Freedom of the Sky
by RedLegoManiac
Summary: Modern AU : In the skies, Hiccup is the legendary pilot, Night Fury. In highschool however, its a struggle to not be bullied. Can he keep his two different lives separate? Featuring characters from other movies as well.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Just a little thought? 3/26 was the day httyd was released, and then november foxtrot is NF, which stands for Night Fury. By the way, if someone gets hissypissy because I messed up on a couple radio communications, I'm not a pilot. I'm going to continue when I get free time, for now my main project is Into the Wasteland.

Chapter One : Stunts

The engine roared to life, the props sputtering as they began to spin. Clicking the headset on, then hailing Air Traffic Control. A slightly nasally voice announced, "Raven's Point Tower, Mustang Three Two Six November Foxtrot, at line service, requesting permission for take-off Northbound at five thousand feet."

"Three Two Six November Foxtrot, taxi to Runway Two Four."

A few minutes later, the nasally voice came over the radio, "Raven's Point Tower, Three Two Six November Foxtrot. Ready for take off."

"Three Two Six November Foxtrot, Raven's Point Tower. You are cleared for take off."

With that, the pilot gradually pushed down on the throttle, insuring that he doesn't lose control on the ground. Before long, the black P51D-30 Mustang was climbing high into the sky, the pilot looked across the black wings with three red stripes, taking in Berk and the surrounding sea stacks as a whole. Proceeding out of radio range, the Control Tower contacted him again.

"Three Two Six November Foxtrot, Raven's Point Tower, radio service terminated."

Sighing contentedly, Hiccup leveled out at five thousand feet, just under a mile in the sky, yet he felt as if he were at the mile high club, the monotonous droning of the spinning prop soothing to his ears. He thought himself, ' _This is Berk, it snows nine months of the year, and hails the other three. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only pests here are the school bullies. I guess you could say I'm a celebrity around here, in school I'm known as Hiccup the useless, but in the skies, I'm known as Night Fury. Berk has annual air races with people of all sorts from the neighboring islands of the Archipelago come to. I never knew my parents, they died in a car accident when I was younger, and since then I've been raised by Gobber, a close family friend. I still kept the Haddock name, since it was pretty much the only part of my parents that I still had, other than an old viking helmet, was the family axe, used in celebrations and whatnot. The P51 was my mother's, inherited from my grandfather after he fought in World War Two. Over the years, Gobber helped me restore it, sure it has taken years, but heck, it's under my name. Since I don't really need a car, I use a 2010 Yamaha FZ-09 to get around when I'm on the ground._

Noticing a small crowd at the center of town, he knew they were waiting for the 'Night Fury' to do something. He pulled into a steep climb, stalling as he reached nine thousand feet, activating the combat flaps for better control, he dived back towards the Earth. The speedometer reading 380mph, retracting the flaps since they couldn't handle the speed, he pulled up at two thousand feet. A minute passed, before he descended once again, activating the aerial acrobatic smoke before pulling off barrel rolls and backflips. Hiccup leveled out again, heading away from the sea-stacks, rolling his plane until his was suspended by the harness, he was met with the sky underneath him, and the world above him. Pulling up on the flight stick, diving towards the ground for a mere second before the plane righted himself .The spectators watched in awe as the Night Fury was flying towards the sea-stacks at high speed. Pulling his auburn hair out of the way at the last second, Hiccup smirking as he bobbed and weaved through the perilous maze as if it were second nature. The last turn came into view, banking a hard right, the maze opened up into the vast blue ocean. Performing an Immelman, he set course back to Berk after launching a series of flares as fireworks as he zoomed past them.

Glancing at the fuel gauge, Hiccup realized he only had about ten minutes left. Heading back to the runway, he checked in. Requesting to land, he was directed to Runway Two Three, which ran parallel with Runway Two Four. Upon landing, Hiccup reached behind him, pulling on a familiar helmet , with three rows of small spikes that acted as antennas to broadcast radio messages. Usually he would use a normal 2-way radio headset for casual flights, yet whenever he landed he made sure to wear the helmet along with his flightsuit to make sure no one discovered his true identity. Taxi-ing to a private hangar, paid for by his winnings in the races, he cut off the engine as he rolled to a stop.

A small group of teens were watching him disembark, hoping to find out who he was, turning around, he saw Astrid Hofferson, Scott Jorgenson, Timothy 'Tuffnut' and Rachel 'Ruffnut' Thorston, and Frank 'Fishlegs' Ingerman. To make the situation worse, all of them went to the same high school. He never spoke as Night Fury, so rumors had started about how his tongue got in the prop as the engine started, ripping it clean from his mouth. As gruesome as that sounds, it was untrue.

Through the green aviator goggles, he glared at the other teens while pointed at the door to leave. As they made to leave, Astrid turned around and saw him writing in a notepad, and then ripping the page out. He crossed the room quickly, the black helmet and the green eyes making him suspiciously menacing. He held the paper in his hand as she quickly read, " **Enter this hangar again, and I will make sure you and your group are banned from this season's races."**

Not waiting for a response, he dropped the paper into her hands, and then turned and stalked off to check on the engine.

AN: So, what do y'all think?


	2. Chapter 2

Nothing in these chapters are mine, Httyd is Cowell's, and all the music is owned by the respective artist.

I'm probably gonna start mixing in characters from other shows and movies.

Chapter Two : Mondays

A week had passed since Hiccup's previous flight, and the school year was beginning today. The sun was rising, at 6 AM.

The auburn haired teen groaned as the alarm clock began buzzing. Sleepily opening his eyes, he realized he wasn't a morning person, or an afternoon person, or a night person. Hiccup nearly fell back asleep, if it weren't for a thick scottish voice booming through the cozy two story house, "LADDIE! Git down here fer breakfast!" Hiccup thought to himself, 'That's Gobber alright.."

Wal- falling down the stairs, he finally made it to the kitchen, where Gobber was filling a plate with eggs and bacon. He grinned as Hiccup walked into the room, "Nice of ye to wake up, figured ye died in yer sleep." Gobber let out a mighty chuckle at his own joke.

"Wha- who me? Gobber, keeping all this raw Vikingness contained," gesturing to himself, "requires sufficient amount of sleep!"

Gobber gave a deadpanned look as he retorted, "I'll take my chances, now go get ready. I've got ta leave righ'now since the school board's having a meetin'." Quickly eating, he finished his plate of bacon and eggs in a few short minutes. Grabbing his coat on the way out, he turned back to Hiccup, who was chugging orange juice out of the carton. "Make sure ye git ta school on time."

Hiccup gave a thumbs up as a reply to Gobber. Finishing off the rest of his plate, he took another big swig of the juice and then screwed the lid back on. Toothless, a black german shepherd from the pound, came to the side of the table, looking up to Hiccup with green pleading eyes. He chuckled, setting the plate on the ground, Toothless seeing nothing on the plate that was edible looked up again, giving a look that said "Really?"

"Sorry bud, but I gotta get outta the house early. When I get home from school we'll go into the forest together." He head back up to his room, taking a shower. After drying off he slipped into his jeans, pulling on a black t-shirt over his head, and then putting on a dark green flannel. Connecting his phone to his earbuds, he ran the wire up the flannel, and let them hang loosely on the outside of his shirt. Tying on a pair of black high top converse, finishing up, he grabbed his laptop bag, placing a couple of notebooks and an assortment of folders he deemed necessary for the day.

Reading the time to be 7:15 AM, he made his way downstairs and out the door. As he was walking to the bus stop, Mr Hofferson pulled up beside him in a silver corolla.

"Hey Hayden, the water heater broke down again this morning, do you think you can come by and fix it after school?" He looked hopeful, considering he was the manager for 'Night Fury'.

Stopping to think, 'Okay, I have school today, tonight should be free..forest hike with Toothless, I should get a head start on the new english book, cooking dinner, eating dinner, showering and then sleep.' Realizing he had spaced out, Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck, "Y-yeah, sure I should be free for about an hour after school. Is it the same problem as before?" He nodded, "Oh, alright, I'll be over after school then."

"Thanks lad, you're a real lifesaver. I'm not kidding, my wife will kill me if she has to take another cold shower." With that, he drove off to work. Hiccup resumed his walk to the bus stop, sitting on the bench, waiting for the 7:40 bus.

000

The Hofferson's received a very cold awakening this morning, frigid showers washing away the 'good' in morning. Drying off quickly, Astrid put on a brown leather jacket over a blue t-shirt, and slipped into her jeans. She heard her dad announcing he was going to work, and then her mother saying goodbye.

She grabbed a breakfast sandwich, literally a hard-fried egg in between two pieces of toast, on the way out the door. Jogging to the bus stop, the small smile on her face turning into a frown as he recognized the school's laughingstock, Hiccup Haddock. His chin was resting on his palm, and he was leaning to the side. Astrid tried talking to him, but he ignored all her greetings. Frustrated, she smacked the backside of his head, jolting him awake.

"Nice of you to wake up, Haddock." She said coldly, he turned to her, his eyes still closed.

"Gods, woman! Can't a man get some sleep?"

"What. Did. You. Say?" She was on her last nerve already with this guy.

Finally out of his daze, and recognizing the voice of a demon, Angry Astrid. Trying to save himself, he spoke quickly, "Hi-hi- heyy Astrid, good morning," rubbing the back of his neck nervously, he knew he would be vaporized if looks could kill. The glare she was giving him made it seem possible for hell to freeze over. He subtly scooted closer to the edge of the bench, putting space between him and her.

A few minutes later, the bus arrived. Astrid got on first, sitting with her posse, while Hiccup went straight to the back, to sit alone. Twenty minutes passed, and they finally pulled into the school's parking lot. Exiting the bus quickly and making his way to first period, he heard whispers from different conversations, obviously downtalking him.

Hiccup made it just in time as the bell rang to his first period, Calculus with a Mr. Hamada. From his bio on the teacher webpage, Hiccup knew he had a brother, Hiro, who was the same age as him, and that he was in his first year of teaching.

"What's your name, kid?" Tadashi asked, handing him a syllabus paper.

"Hayden Haddock," Hiccup said, "But most people around here call me Hiccup." Mr Hamada looked thoughtful before replying.

"Haddock as in a Stoick and Valka Haddock?" He crossed his arms across his chest, Hiccup began to feel wary.

"Ye-Yeah why?" Hiccup asked curiously, "Did you know them?" Taking his seat at the front of the room, the rest of the class were still carrying on their own morning conversations.

"Well, I knew your mother, she was my physics teacher at the university. Sorry for your loss, kid." Unfortunately, he finished his words right at one of those 'awkward silences.' Everyone turned to look at Hiccup, who gave a sheepish, lopsided smile. The rest of the class seemed to be in shock of the news, which was surprising since most of them knew Hiccup since kindergarten.

Rapunzel asked, "Why have you never talked about them before?"

Hiccup sighed, this was exactly why he didn't talk about them, he hates the pitying attention it draws to him. "I never talk about them because I never knew them. They died when I was only a couple months old in a car accident."

Noticing the depressing fog that settled in the class, he stated, "Alright class, let's get started with introductions, I'm gonna go down the alphabet." Calling out people's names, they responded by saying their name, and then something they do in their freetime.

Hiccup nearly dozed off again as the other students droned on by saying their names and whatever stuff they did. Tadashi called out Hiro's name, who replied "Hiro Hamada, electrical engineering and robotics." Hiccup thought himself, 'Maybe I should try to be friends with that guy, he looks pretty smart. Eh, this might be a repeat of last year.'

Tadashi called out, "Hayden Haddock?"

Hiccup looked up from the syllabus and answered, "Hayden 'Hiccup' Haddock, Aerospace engineering." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hiro glance at him, with a grin 'Having a friend this year might be easier than I thought!'

Hiccup heard Astrid's name get called, and her hobby was softball. Not surprising, same as last year.

Before he knew it, the bell rang. Introductions and syllabus readings occurred in every class, and the day continued in a routine like fashion, get in class, read syllabus, say name and hobby. That was it. Except for his 6th period, English IV, where he nearly got in trouble. He noticed that the teacher looked close to Voldemort, but worse and with a nose. Him and Hiro were sitting side by side, and he leaned over and whispered, "Dude, Mr. Kuradeel looks like Voldemort went through a grease fire." Hiro snorted trying to withhold a laugh.

"Something funny, Hamada?" Mr. Kuradeel had caught them.

"No sir, its just Hayden told me a funny joke." Hiccup snapped to him, his face reading, 'Really dude!? Thanks.'

"Well if he shared it with you then he should be able to share it with the class," the english teacher glared at him, thinking 'crap crap crap, gotta think of something.'

Sighing he gave a deadpan look and said, "My grandfather had a heart of a lion, and also a lifetime ban from the New York Zoo." The teacher actually began to chuckle, which must've been very rare. Some other students started laughing as well, and right on time, the bell rang. Hiccup walked out of class, looking at his schedule to find where the metalworking class was located..

Walking down the hall to his seventh period, metalworking & woodshop, he heard Gobber's voice shout out to him. "Aye Laddie!" Hiccup turned and saw Gobber limping towards him, getting used to a new prosthetic. The double prosthetic man changed the story every time someone asked him what happened to his arm and leg, but the original story, a simple fishing tale that involved being attacked by two sharks, the first took his leg, then an hour later the second took his hand. Waiting for him to catch up, he replied, "Hey Gobber, what brings you by the school?"

"Lad, didn't I tell you this morning? I'm gonna be the new smithing teacher." He said with a jovial smile, Hiccup immediately brightened at the idea of being Gobber's student, not much would change, just that he would get more forge time.

"That's great, Gobber!" The bigger man nodded, "Lemme guess, you got lost and can't find the class."

"Bright one you are," he let out a laugh, nearly knocking Hiccup over as he patted his back.

"Alright, I'll lead the way." Hiccup led Gobber to the workshop room, he recognized a few faces, Scott Jorgensen, Timothy 'Tuffnut' Thorston, Frank 'Fishlegs' Ingerman, and his new acquaintance, Hiro Hamada. Scott and Tuffnut teased Hiccup throughout class while the other students listened to Gobber talk about all the machines they were going to to learn about.

Eventually, school ended and Hiccup hitched a ride with Gobber to head home. A conversation carried out about the events of the day. Hiccup decided to tell Gobber about Mr. Kuradeel, which he burst out laughing at. A few more minutes of driving passed and the duo arrived at their home.

Tossing his bag into his room, Hiccup made his way into the garage, better known as the workroom. He grabbed a pair of working gloves and a small toolbox with essentials, and set out to the Hofferson residence.

A short walk down the street put him at their front door. Summing up a little confidence, he rang the doorbell. A minute later the door opened, revealing Astrid, he opened his mouth to greet her, but Mr. Hofferson shouted from the basement, "Is that Hayden!? If so, let him in!" She stood aside to let him in.

Hiccup stepped inside, and nervously greeted her, "H-hey Astrid h-how are you today?"

"Apart from Snotlout not taking a hint during lunch… Fine." She seemed more annoyed than anything.

"Can't say I like him much either." She led him to the basement door, feeling a bit weird since Hiccup was so… different. He didn't look at her with lustful eyes or anything like that. That being said, he hardly looks at anything since he's always asleep in class. It was strange because so many people viewed her as a trophy, but he didn't. She glanced back at him to see him looking at various paintings and photos on the wall, and then studying each piece of furniture they passed in the hallway.

Approaching the basement doorway, she said, "Alright, here we are." Not waiting for a response, she walked away, going up to her room to watch netflix.

Walking down the basement stairs, Hiccup saw Mr. Hofferson trying to tighten a valve on the water heater. He half jogged across the room before Mr. Hofferson could do anything else, tightening the wrong valve on a gas water heater could cause an explosion.

"Mr. Hofferson!" He rose his voice towards him, "Untighten that valve!" The older man looked at the psi gauge, muttering an "oh shit" he quickly loosened the valve.

Hiccup dropped his toolbox, grabbing the gloves and hastily putting them on. He spoke again when he was next to the older man, "Mr. Hofferson, you should probably get out of here, there's too much pressure waiting to be relieved." Mr. Hofferson looked at him questioningly, then nodded, Hiccup continued, "When you get upstairs, open the windows and the doors, okay? I'll see what I can do to make sure we don't have a gas fire, and do you have a face shield?" He nodded again, turning around and reaching to a shelf for the metal mask. Handing the face shield to Hiccup, he jogged up the stairs to do as he was instructed, leaving Hiccup to work.

Nearly ten minutes after he got Astrid to go outside, where it was safer, he heard a very loud "FUCK" followed by a muffled explosion. Rushing back inside and down the basement, he was met with soot and smoke. He saw the teen stagger out into the hallway, coughing. Mr. Hofferson asked, "Lad, what happened?"

He answered, "I got to figure out that your main problem caused the second problem." the older man gave an intrigued look, "Your main problem was that the piping was not sealed properly, letting trace amounts of gas into the air. The second problem, was that it was also building up pressure on the inside of the tank." He paused a moment, catching his breath, "Too much pressure, it goes boom, so I opened the release valve, so that the gas would go through the roof to dissipate, but it didn't work." He turned his gaze from the floor to the older man, "I'll pay to replace the water heater, I couldn't get the burner off in time."

"No no, that's okay, and from now on, call me Karl. You have my gratitude." He said with a smile, turning his gaze to Astrid, "Make sure he doesn't move too much, and help him take his tools home. I've got to get back to the office, coworker just called and said it was important."

"She doesn't ne-" He tried to talk, but was cut off by Astrid's answer.

"Okay, Dad"

Karl grabbed his keys, and headed out to his car before driving away. Hearing the car's noise grow fainter and fainter, "S-s-so I guess I'll see you tomorrow.. Yup, well see you tomorrow," he said while running a hand through his hair.

She gave a small smile, realizing how tense he was, "Thank's for not making my house blow up."

He let out a nervous chuckle, "Haha, yeah anytime really. Just make sure your dad buys an electric water heater, they're a lot easier to manage and they don't have the risk of blowing up. By the way, you don't have to walk back to my house with me, I'll just drop by in the morning to pick up my toolset. See you around, Astrid." With that, he opened the door, stepping out onto her porch and thinking 'Whew, that could've gone better.'


	3. Chapter 3

Nothing in this story is mine, all ownerships go to their owners.

Chapter Three : Classroom Frustrations

Day of Week : Thursday

Astrid was frustrated, she didn't know what she was doing wrong, but in every class she had, Hiccup managed to do better than her. Her main goal for the year was to be elected as the class valedictorian, and that seemingly easy goal in a senior class of four hundred, was proving difficult with Hiccup around. Another issue, Scott has not taken a hint yet, and Ruff kept trying to push them together.

The day's frustrations left her mind as she made her way to softball practice. She and Ruff made it on the varsity team, and to celebrate their achievement, coach made them run laps around the field.

After practice and after everyone went home, she and Ruff discussed about Scott's nonstop tirade of asking her out. "I just don't understand how someone could be that dense." Astrid stated.

Ruffnut looked thoughtful for a minute, "Well, there is Hiccup, and you haven't even given Scott a chance."

Astrid turned her gaze from her locker to Ruff, "Hiccup doesn't pay attention, but not dense. He's quiet, but I know he's smart. My dad is always preaching at how the kid could fix anything, except his reputation. And as for Scott, give me two reasons while I should give him a chance."

Ruffnut put her fingers up as she listed, "One: You are the most popular girl in school, he is the most popular guy in the school. Two: He's the football captain, and you're the softball team captain. And, one more as an extra, he has muscles, unlike a bunch of the other boys here."

Astrid thought long and hard about it, weighing the pro's and con's if the two of them were to start dating. She concluded her calculations that if they started dating, it would result in a popularity boost for both of them.

Realizing she had spaced out, she turned to face Ruffnut with a smile, and declared, "Alright, I'll give him a chance. Now come on, I actually want to go home before the sun sets."

000 The next day, during lunch 000

Astrid was eating her lunch quietly, in the corner of her vision, she saw Hiccup sitting alone. He was reading something on his phone, and had a scowl on his face. Before she could think anything of it, Ruff sat down next to her. A few minutes passed, and Scott, Eret, and Tuffnut came to the table and sat down too. The group spent lunch conversing over topics ranging from school to sports to Night Fury. Everyone was hyped up for the Qualifiers for this season. The Berserker Isles were going to be introducing a new racer, and no one knew who he was, just that he flew a P51 D-30 that was painted purple and had black streaks on it. Most of the lower classmen were betting on the newcomer, while most of the upperclassmen bet on Night Fury.

With the group finally eating peacefully, Scott asked, "Hey Astrid, you and me, let's go see that new movie this saturday, tickets are on me, and then we can grab a bite afterwards."

Knowing he was going to ask during lunch, Astrid managed to keep her food in her stomach at the thought of them going on a date. Ruffnut looked at her expectantly, she remembered their conversation from the day before, "Alright Scott, what time?"

Not bothering to hide the glee on his face, he looked like a little kid in a candy store, it took him a moment to recompose himself, "I was thinking I pick you up around four, then we go see the movie and we'll go from there." She nodded, turning back to glare at Ruffnut.

Scott high-fived Eret and Tuffnut, feeling accomplished with his 'score.'

000 simultaneously 000

Hiccup was sitting alone at lunch, as usual, Hiro usually ate in the teacher's lounge with his brother, and Fishlegs had a different lunch period. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Astrid stare at him for a minute as he was reading up on the newcomer. No name was listed, just a short bio and what plane he flew, a purple P51. A message popped up on his phone, from Fish.

 _F: Hey, do you want to come over tonight? I'm thinking a Halo night is in order._

 _H: Sure, what time should I head over?_

 _F: Anytime after 6. Alright, gotta go, ttyl_

 _H: bye_

Hiccup turned his gaze back to the food in front of him, a measly chicken sandwich. Taking a quick look around the cafeteria, and saw that no one was looking anywhere near him. He snuck out of the cafeteria, and made his way to the workshop.

Astrid noticed Hiccup sneak out of the cafeteria, becoming intrigued by his mysteriousness, she excused herself from the lunch table, saying she was going to use the restroom. Of course she let curiosity get the better of her, she followed him as quiet as possible to his destination.

Gobber allowed Hiccup to use a bit of the space as a personal workshop. Before him sat the blueprints to his mustang's current engine. He had been trying to think of ways to better cool the engine, the rpm currently at 100% thrust caused the engine to overheat within a few hours of flying. He sat in his chair at his workbench, absentmindedly drawing a memory. A few minutes later, he snapped out of his daze, and stared at the picture. A memory of his parents, looking down to him as he reached up to them in the crib, each stroke of the pencil evident on the baby hands, and wide smiles on both faces that remained blank to his consciousness. One small tear escaped his eye, falling to the page below as he realized how much he's missed out on, sure he had Gobber, but he was always more of a friend or uncle than anything. His lips began to tremble at how much he had missed out on, his real parents. More tears left his eyes as he sniffled, he couldn't help but wonder, ' _If they were still here,I would've actually had a chance with them. I don't even remember their faces, only vague emotions of a child. Would I even be a pilot? Would my father have taught me how to stand up for myself? What could have changed...'_ A hand was placed on his shoulder, looking up he recognized Astrid. With a croaking voice he asked, "w-why are you here, y-y-you going to mock me or something? I-if Scott's here, just tell him to start laughing at me."

She said nothing, but left her hand on his shoulder, and a minute of a very uncomfortable silence passed. She asked softly, "Do you miss them?"

Hiccup sniffled again, trying to withhold tears. He answered in a whisper "How can I miss them, if I have no memory of them? I never met them, I won't be able to meet them until I die. And Thor knows I've tried before." She thought to herself ' _did he just admit he's attempted suicide?'_ as he began rambling, "I never had a chance with them, to feel their touch, or to be cared for like a son. No offense to Gobber, but he's not really the parenting type."

"If you don't remember them, then how did you draw that picture?" Astrid asking herself more than him.

He made a small smile, "I-I honestly don't know, I didn't even realize I was drawing it."

"Hayden," the teen snapped up as she said his real name. Astrid couldn't believe she was feeling sympathy for this guy, "how lonely are you?"

He let out a small chuckle at her question, "emotionally or physically," he asked tonelessly.

She shrugged, letting a small "both," squeak out.

Hiccup sighed, this was the furthest he'd ever been in a conversation with his crush before, so continuing wasn't a bad idea. "Physically, you're the first person I've talked to outside a normal classroom in nearly a week, and emotionally, for the past seventeen years."

Astrid's breath hitched, she knew Hayden had it rough, but never stopped to think it could be this rough for him. She wondered aloud, "Have you tried to make friends instead of pushing people away?" He looked up at her, with a glare.

"Oh yes, Astrid, yes I have. But every damn time I try to be someone, disaster follows." He snapped at her, anger showing in his forest green eyes. "Go back to your lunch. Others have been saying it for years, and I'm telling you now. Leave me alone." He stood abruptly, making his way to the door, leaving a stunned Astrid.

Astrid returned to the lunch room, ignoring her friend's questions as she sat down. Looking down to her food, not feeling hungry anymore, she stated, "I made a mistake, and I don't know if I can fix it."

AN: Okay, I've really got to ask, do you people want Freedom of the Sky chapters before Into the Wasteland, or vice versa, or release them at same time. My updating schedule is probably going to be something like Monday - FotS and then Wednesday - ITW and then the weekend will be a dual chapter release


	4. Chapter 4

Nothing in here is mine, all characters and whatnot go to their respective parties.

AN: So, I went to bed exactly right after I posted the chapter last night, and for anyone worried that Astrid is too 'ooc' don't worry, and the mistake she made will be revealed soonish, probably in this chapter. Basically the mistake was her decision to be one of the first people to turn against him, instead of being a friend when it mattered. Thank's so much for the encouragement and support :D

Also, a bit of background, the reason Hiccup is close-ish to Astrid's father is because he taught Night Fury how to fly, and also is currently sponsoring him, and Gobber knew that Hiccup was really Night Fury ever since he learned to fly.

DeathStrike59 : Happy Birthday!

Chapter Four : A New Perspective

\- Friday Evening -

Hiccup arrived at Fishlegs' house at six thirty. His mother greeted him at the door, with all tenderness and care. She stated that Frankie is down in the gameroom. Stepping inside, he accepted a glass of water, mumbling a thank you in response. Truth be told, his mind was still reeling from his conversation with Astrid during school. He couldn't help but wonder if she was about to mock him, or feel some form of sympathy, the entire situation was unlike her. She usually ignored him or shrugged off any attempts of conversation with her. He made his way down the stairs to the basement/game room, still thinking about the event.

"... Earth to Hiccup?" asked Fishlegs, knowing his friend had spaced out once again.

"Hmm.. wh-what?" Hiccup snapped out of the daze, looking towards the chubby blond teen.

"You spaced out again. I have a feeling it has something to do with Astrid." Fishlegs concluded, noticing how he blushed slightly at her mentioning.

"It's nothing Fish, don't worry about it." Hiccup succeeded in diverting Fishlegs' attempt at prying. Nearly an hour later, the doorbell rang, minutes later Hiro came down the stairs holding a bottle of soda and a family size bag of chips.

"Sorry I'm late guys, I got held up at a bot-fight." Hiro had a wide grin pasted on his face, "Before either of you ask, I won, as always."

"Those microbots are very innovative, I'm 80% sure that they will become a necessity in the next few years."

Hiccup asked, "What about the other twenty?" Him and Hiro both looked at him expectantly.

Feeling a slight bit of pressure, Fishlegs began darting his eyes around as he answered, "Ehhh someone could steal the idea and patent it before you. And then they ruin the concept, by using the technology as a monopoly, like the Chinese and silk."

"Oh, no worries. I've already signed the documents and everything. If someone does steal the idea, I will be able to sue them for every dollar they have."

Hiccup had a tight frown, the two friends noticed that the auburn haired teen was currently thinking about something. Hiro waved a hand in his view, snapping Hiccup out of the daze. He muttered, "thanks."

"Okay, Hayden that's twice in the same hour you've spaced out. And I'm 97% sure something is wrong."

"Alright, alright I'll tell you." He sighed, pausing a moment, "I was thinking about my parents earlier today."

Hiccup knew Hiro had the same predicament, though he had a brother and an aunt who raised him. The said boy asked, "What about them?"

"That's the thing, there was nothing to think about." Hiccup continued to tell them what happened, they were surprised that Astrid had followed him, he didn't see a reason to leave anything out, he trusted both of them and he felt that they deserved to know.

Hiro finally said, "If it's any consolation, I know what you're going through, to not have a chance with your natural parents, though I do have a brother, but still that's not the point. You say you have Gobber as a mentor, right?" Receiving a nod, he continued, "Well, for the most part, Tadashi is my mentor, in much of the same way as Gobber is for you, he looked out for me when I was younger, and Gobber is did the same for you." That point of view hit him like a train. He froze, not knowing what to say or do, but he felt immense gratitude for the change of thought.

Fishlegs whispered over to Hiro, "Hiro, I think you broke him…"

Hiccup finally allowed the new perception to take root in his mind, he shouldn't focus on what he didn't have, he should focus on what he does have. A mentor who looks out for him, a dog who loves him unconditionally, and two loyal and trustworthy friends. He turned his gaze up to Hiro, "Thank you, Hiro, for giving me a new perspective." Turning the small grin, into a wide smile as he exclaimed, "Now, how bout that halo night!?"

The trio of teens played to their hearts desire, staying way up past midnight, and with a case of 3 am delusions, Hiccup finally decided to go home. Minutes later and collapsing onto his bed, he immediately fell asleep.

\- Saturday Morning -

The first weekend of the Archipelago Air Racing Tournament finally arrived, Hiccup had this weekend marked on every calendar he had. This was the first qualifier for this year's racing season. The route planned for the qualifier would take them around an island named Itchy Armpit. The objective was to take off from Berk, fly to Itchy Armpit, and then come back, the fourteen fastest times go on to the second qualifier. This qualifier was all about speed, to make it to the destination and back in as short time as possible. Gobber had installed a new instrument in the cockpit, even though it was largely unnecessary, it made perfect sense, a cup holder.

On the runway, the 20 racers were spooling up their engines, warming them in the early September weather. A crowd had formed on the runway, the Qualifier was essentially a make-it-or-break-it sort of thing. Many of the pilots were wary when the black P51 rolled to a stop on the starting line, they all heard the rumours, the stories, the legendary Night Fury, the only pilot in the Archipelago to hold the title of undefeated champion of every tournament for the past three years.

Hiccup was half asleep by the time he taxid to the line up, the three cups of coffee this morning certainly weren't helping. Gobber had to wake him up by yelling into his ear, and then dumping two buckets of cold water on him. The first was to wake him up, and the second was for the fun of it. Through his helmet, he saw the other racers in their planes and then a crowd at the side of the runway.

Most pilots in the Archipelago use replica prop planes, with polymers and alloys, but with less sturdy engines. However his plane, the infamous Mustang, was original for the most part, the modifications he implemented were weight reduction and installing a better engine.

All of the other pilots were quietly conversing, waiting for the starting shot. All of them warily looking to Night Fury, wondering if he's going to dominate again like last year. Hiccup looked to his left and right, seeing differently colored aircraft. Recognising different aircraft, such as P-63 Kingcobras, and F8F Bearcats.

A minute of silence passed between all the pilots, and then they heard snoring. A man with a thick german accent spoke up, "Is that Night Fury?" The rest of the pilots looked over to see the Night Fury slumped over in his cockpit, snoring lightly into the radio. They all began to snicker, at how the champion was sleeping on the job. Another one asked, "Do you think we should wake him up? I mean, we're all good sports, are we not?" A unanimous confirmation passed between the pilots. Someone said, "We should all shout together to wake him up." Receiving multiple 'aye's' and 'okays' the pilots all shouted at the same time, "NIGHT FURY, WAKE UP!"

Hiccup snapped awake, hitting his head on the canopy glass, "Ow, shit that hurt." He heard cackling bouts of laughter coming through the radio realizing his predicament, he faked Gobber's accent, "My mic's been on the whole time hasn't it." He sighed, "Well, now all of you know I can speak. Any questions?"

No one got to ask any questions because at the end of his sentence, the starting shot rang out. Hiccup pushed down on the throttle, making the thrust percentage rise to 110%. He took the lead, racing down the runway and finally lifting up into the air. Finally off the ground, Hiccup zoomed past the cheering spectators at the edge of the runway, looking down he saw Hiro and Fishlegs, and a bit further, he saw Astrid, the twins, and Scott. He half-lied to his friends, saying he had to go into work today, even though his 'work' wasn't work for him.

As the racers sped towards Itchy Armpit, the pilots began to chat about various topics, and eventually one of them asked, "Night Fury, you still up in the front?"

Hiccup responded, he might as well make conversation, "Yeah. looks like there's a storm up ahead." Another pilot replied, "Best be careful then, wouldn't want to lose the champion in some rain." He and a few others joined into laughter.

The storm broke out as the culmination of pilots in the lead looped around Itchy Armpit and were heading back to Berk. As they traveled back, Hiccup had separated from the top five pilots, and was speeding back to Berk alone, muting his microphone. He saw a purple shape gaining on him, punching down on the throttle, his plane began to go faster. Dagur pulled up beside him, catching his attention when he started waving his headset around. Clicking the microphone back on, he heard the man flying beside him shout, "I am Dagur the Deranged! You will lose this year, Night Fury, I will become the new champion!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes on the inside of the helmet, "Do you know how many people have said that to me? Good luck with the flight to fame." With this, Hiccup dived to gain speed and zoomed away from Dagur, who was cackling madly.

Flying for another few minutes, he flew over the spectators, his plane whistling in the wind as he flew past the final pylon. Celebrating, Hiccup pulled into a tight climb, and completing a backflip as he flew over the runway, slowing down to land.

As soon as he rolled to a stop in his hangar, and stepped out of the door, he was swarmed by sportscasters who were wanting to ask their own questions. He walked past them, not wanting to deal with them. Hiccup locked the doors and turned to face the sportscasters and said in the same fake accent as earlier, "I will be attending the press conference tomorrow." Seeing a woman near him open her mouth he said, "Yes I can speak. No my tongue was not ripped out of my mouth by a plane prop." The woman closed her mouth. Hiccup sighed audibly, climbing onto his motorcycle, he called Gobber from his helmet.

The blacksmith answered, "Hello? How'd the race go?"

Hiccup replied, "Good news, I passed the qualifier, bad news, the sportscasters are expecting me to do the press conference tomorrow. I spoke while my mic wasn't muted, so they all want to hear the famous Night Fury speak."

Gobber let out a laugh, "Haha, alright lad, I'll tell Karl, and tell him the situation."


	5. Chapter 5

Nothing in here is mine, all characters and whatnot go to their respective parties.

AN: I'm referring to the movie as 'movie' mainly because copyright reasons and whatnot. And also I can't think of any movies that come out in september… September's a weird month. Hey, btw, I finished that half shot, called Fighting for a Reason, the full chapter is uploaded so check it out. I'm not going to continue it for now, I'd like to complete ITW first before I start another fic. Thanks for the support everyone :D

Chapter Five : Date

Day of week : Saturday - evening

Astrid was trying her hardest not to kill him, but he was making it very difficult right now. She and Scott were in the movie theater, and every time he threw his arm around her back, it made her sick. The movie was actually pretty good, it had a basic storyline but enough of a plot twist to give it a different feel.

After the two and a half hours of awkward shows of affection, or possessiveness as Astrid was convinced, they went to a restaurant called 'The Forge.' From outside they heard a man with a thick scottish accent shout, "Aye Lad! Get yer ass over here!" Astrid was a bit wary, but still continued after Scott. There wasn't a lot of people there, only a few people could be seen through the windows.

Walking inside, they were seated, and were met with a familiar face. Scott was the first to notice, "What are _you_ doing here." Looking up from the menu, she saw none other than Hayden Haddock.

"I work here, alright, I'm gonna be your waiter for tonight since we're understaffed." Hiccup said, nonchalantly.

Both Scott and Astrid were surprised, "What!?"

"I work for Gobber, since he owns the place, and it was my parent's, so it will be passed down to me eventually." Pulling out a notepad and a pen, "What drinks are you going to be having tonight?" Both replied with water, and Hayden walked off to retrieve the beverages.

Astrid looked at Scott, who still seemed surprised, "I didn't think that Hiccup could hold a job." He nodded, still reading the menu. She asked, "What are you thinking about having? I haven't been here before."

The burly teen turned his gaze from the menu to her, "I'm thinking the viking burger, how about you?"

Reading the specials menu, she saw the 'Valka Haddock' meal, the menu described it to be a "hearty chicken salad" Hayden came back with two glasses of water, he placed them on the table, and stepped back, "Have you decided on what you'll be having tonight?"

Scott looked at her, sending a silent question. She nodded, and Hayden pulled out the same notepad, ready to write down the order.

Astrid went first, "I'll be having the Valka Haddock special,"

He wrote it down, and asked, "grilled or baked chicken? And what dressing would you like, miss?"

"Grilled, and can I have ranch on the side?" Receiving a nod, she handed him the menu.

"And for you sir, what will you be having?" Hayden asked, ready to write.

"I'll have the _Hiccup_ Haddock meal, with a side of the viking potato and corn." Scott looked impressed with the look of shock on Hayden's face.

"Are you sure? That is largest steak we have on the menu."

"Yeah. Why is it called the Hiccup Haddock meal if it's so big, it's kinda the reverse of you." Scott asked with a smug grin.

A lopsided grin showed up on Hayden's face. "That's because it's named after the first person to have finished it by himself." He took the menus to the back, where he passed the orders off to Gobber. The two at the table were gaping as he walked to the kitchen.

Nearly thirty minutes later nearly the entire restaurant was empty, leaving them and the staff. Hayden came out of the kitchen, holding trays with both arms. When he got to the table, they saw the steak was on top of the platter, hanging over the edge. He set the trays down on an adjacent table, and then deposited the salad in front of Astrid, and set down a small bowl with ranch beside it. He picked up the steak's hot plate with both hands, wincing at the heat, and set in down in front of Scott. "Careful with that, the plate's hot." Hayden brought the sides over, both on separate plates. He gave a small smile, "Enjoy your date."

Walking back into the kitchen, where Gobber was sitting in front of a game of Maces and Talons, he saw the older man growing red in the face with frustration. Gobber shouted, "Agin!? How do ye keep beatin' me!? Here's yer damn cash! Now, get outta here!"

Hayden caught the roll of cash and grabbed his 'civilian' helmet, "I'll see you at the house, Gobber!" He walked through the restaurant, seeing a pissed off Astrid, "What's up with you?" He asked.

She looked up with a scowl, "Scott just ditched me, his parents called him and apparently he got in trouble." She sighed, "He left twenty bucks, but that's not enough to pay since I left my purse at home."

He looked down, at the bill, totalling sixty dollars. "W-well don't worry then, it's on the house. Take the twenty instead," he said with a chuckle. She looked at him astoundedly, "Hey, I co-run the place, I can do things like that. Do you need a ride home? It's sprinkling outside." Gesturing to the window.

She looked at him as if he had grown two heads, before making a decision, "I guess I should take you up on that offer, my parents wanted me home by eight." He looked at the time on his phone, 8:30 pm.

"Alright, come on then, I'll tell Gobber about the meal." He led her to the kitchen, grabbing a secondary helmet. "Hey, Gobber? Put the 'doomed couple' dinner on the house, alright?" Hearing an "Alright, Laddie!" from inside the storeroom, he led her back through the restaurant lobby and into the parking lot.

"So, Scott and I are the 'doomed couple'?" Astrid asked, watching Hayden pale. They were walking to his motorcycle, on the side of the building.

"I-uh-it was a bet, please don't kill me." He started rambling. She punched his arm, "Ow! Why would you do that!?"

"That's for making a bet on my social life, and this," She wrapped her arms around him, and he stiffened, "is for not making me pay for the meal." Astrid let him go, allowing him to sit on the motorcycle, then climbing on behind him. He turned the key, making the motorcycle growl and sputter, then raised the kickstand to drive off.

As they left the parking lot, she rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist, causing him to stiffen. After a few minutes of driving on the road, he relaxed, coasting past the other cars. She spoke into his ear as they neared a stoplight, "Thank you for this, you know, you told me to leave you alone a few days ago, but here we are. And… I'm sorry… I'm sorry for turning my back on you when we were younger."

Hayden was not expecting to hear that, his expression softened at her words, "It's alright, Astrid. And I apologize for snapping at you, I wasn't being myself at the time." The light turned green, and they continued on.

A few minutes later they pulled up outside her house, with Karl sitting on the porch with a rifle in his lap. He didn't recognize the teen in front of Astrid. "So, Lad, what were you doing with my daughter this late."

Hayden's blood drained from his face, and began to stutter, "I-sir-I-uh-" Astrid spoke up, "Hey dad, Hayden here was just giving me a ride home from the restaurant."

"Hayden? I thought you went on a date with Scott." Karl said.

"Yeah well, he's an ass. He ditched and left twenty bucks." She walked past her father, saying hi to her mother inside the house.

Hayden was just about to leave, but Karl grabbed his arm. "Lad, keep an eye on my daughter for me when she's at school, I don't trust this Scott fellow, but I trust you. And good luck at the press conference tomorrow." Karl patted him on the back, and then went back inside his house.

000 Sunday Afternoon 000

Cameras were flashing in the crowd of reporters sitting in the conference room. Night Fury was sitting at the center of the table on the small stage, alone. Wearing his flight suit, Hiccup still had his night fury helmet on, refusing to take it off.

"Night Fury, how do you think this year will be for the races?" A reporter asked.

Hiccup was speaking normally, but his mask made his voice muffled, and less nasally, "I think the races will go as they always do. Not much has changed regarding the rules, and though I see many new pilots, I am sure we will all have fun as we have in the years before." The reporter nodded.

Another one asked, "How come you do not take your mask off?"

Hiccup stiffened, "I don't take my mask off to hide my identity. Although I like racing, I don't want the fame or popularity to interfere with my personal life."

"Why do you fly?"

"I fly because the sky gives me the freedom I've always wanted, the same freedom I've craved for the last three years." Hiccup replied.

"Are you ever going to reveal yourself?"

"I don't think I'm ever going to reveal myself. Perhaps when I retire, but don't worry, I'm not retiring anytime soon. You have my word on that."

"Is there a reason your plane is painted black?"

"At first, it was just because it looked cool," this received a few chuckles in the crowd, "But, as time went on, I was dubbed 'Night Fury' and the name just stuck."

A security guard came up beside Hiccup and whispered in his ear, "you have time for one more question."

"Any further questions?"

"Have you ever been confronted by other pilots outside of the tournament?"

"If I did, they would not know it. The only person that knows my identity is me. Thank you, no further questions." Hiccup rose from his seat, and a dozen reporters stood up, with their cameras flashing and began to ask a multitude of questions.

He walked out into the parking lot, getting on his motorcycle and driving off. Twenty minutes later he's at his home. Hiccup jumps the fence to make sure no one sees him going in the front door, but as soon as he lands, Toothless tackles him down. "Ew-ew gah, Toothless stop! You know that doesn't wash out!" The dog smiled and wagged his tail, occasionally hitting his human.

"Alright, bud, let's go into the forest, how does that sound?" Toothless didn't need to be told twice, he was already bounding towards the backyard gate. Hiccup quickly changed into jeans and a jacket, and opened the gate behind the house to enter the forest.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer, dreamworks owns all characters and whatnot

AN: Summer orchestra music is a pain to learn, it's been taking my time away from me. Sorry for not updating in weeks. Without further ado, chapter six.

Chapter Six : Second Qualifier

The birds were chirping, the sun casting its yellow warmth across Berk, Gobber's shout from downstairs causing Hayden to fall out of bed. Another beautiful day. Oh wait, the only beautiful days are on the weekend for him.

0o0o0

Walking down the hall to first period with Ruffnut, Astrid heard Scott shout, "So what were you doing with my girl, Useless!?" Ruffnut glanced at her, seeing the fiery temper in her blue eyes. Jogging down the hallway to the scene, they saw Hiccup be slammed into a locker, and punched in the gut.

Hiccup crumpled, "You would know, Scott, if you stayed for dinner." He wheezed out, a couple of the other kids gasped. Scott pushed him to the ground and kicked him in the stomach and in the ribs.

A minute late, but Astrid stepped forward, "Scott, that's enough." She said coldly, he glanced back at her, and seeing her icy glare he stepped back. The warning bell rang, and students began to shuffle to their respective classes, leaving Hiccup on the ground. She looked at Mr. Hamada's room, then glanced back at Hiccup, who was lifting himself off the ground.

Noticing the small hint of worry in her eyes, he said, "don't worry, I'll manage." Giving him a curt nod, she jogged to the math class. Hiccup stood up slowly, heading to the same class.

Astrid made it just in time as the bell rang. Ruff waved her over, "so, what do you think all that was about?" She asked.

Astrid replied, "Hiccup took me home after that _date_ ," she spat the word with venom. "I guess Scott got pissed since Hiccup was the one who took me home."

"Wait a minute, I thought you two had a good time, why'd he take you home?" Ruff asked, their last conversation over the phone was a basic, 'how was the date?' 'fine', and that was that.

"Hiccup offered me a ride home since Scott had to leave early."

"And he didn't crash?" Ruff asked.

"No, if he's good at one thing, it's driving."

Hiccup walked into the class, a few minutes late, turning in the weekend homework and taking his seat. He nodded to Hiro and Fishlegs, reaffirming that all was okay, even though they heard about what happened earlier. Mr. Hamada walked into the room, eating a breakfast taco, "sorry I'm late everybody, I hope your weekends were good." Everyone nodded, "alright then, let's open up the books and get started with some simple practice."

The trio of teens took up a few of the corner desks and work together as Tadashi goes around the class helping other students with differentials and integral math problems. Talking about their weekend, so far Hiccup's being the most interesting, "so I take it that's why Scott was pissed earlier?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah, just being an asshole like always." Hiccup replied.

"Well, jealousy could be the main factor of this," Fishlegs said, the other two boys looked at him with questioning looks, "what I mean is, is that you got time with Astrid, while he didn't."

Hiccup gestured to himself with both hands, "I can't see that happening, I mean, who would be jealous of me?" he asked.

"Like my brother always says, you just need to look for a new angle." Hiccup glanced at Hiro. "No, I'm not talking about math." He explained.

Fishlegs warned them, "hey guys, class ends in like ten minutes," with that in mind, and motivated to not have homework, the trio worked diligently. They completed the worksheet just as the bell rang, sighing in relief they turned in their work.

The rest of the day passed by pretty slowly, apart from being slammed into the lockers, or tripped, not much happened. Eventually he made it into seventh period. Walking into his private work corner, he stared at the blueprints for his mustang. He heard Scott and Tuffnut walk into the workshop, laughing as they recalled taunting Hiccup. Gobber got class started, teaching them about the different parts of an engine, and how to recognize an issue.

Left to his own devices, Hiccup pulled out his leather journal and began to sketch. The secondary qualifiers were on wednesday, so Hiccup had a day and a half to prepare. But instead of getting anxious for the upcoming flight, he chose to relax, letting his mind wonder as he drew lines and patterns aimlessly. The bell rang, snapping him back to reality, looking down at the paper, he realized he had drawn Toothless.

Rain began to fall as he walked home, he plugged earbuds into his phones and put them in his ears. Tapping a playlist, music began to play. He read the name of the song, _Boulevard of Broken Dreams._ "Oh, well this is fitting, isn't it," he muttered to himself.

Eventually getting home, though soaked to the bone, he took a warm shower and dried himself off, slipping into pajamas and a t-shirt, and opening the books to study and do his homework.

Gobber got home, after working the evening shift, and found Hiccup passed out on the carpet of the living room, papers and various books spread around him. "Oh lad," he sighed, picking up the teen and taking him up to his room.

000

The announcer's voice boomed across the runway. "Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the secondary qualifier for this year's racing season! Pilots will undergo rigorous exercises that will put maneuverability and agility to the test. These are solo flights, but they are also timed. The top seven times will go on to compete in the Tournament." He paused a minute and continued.

Hiccup looked at the stands from inside his cockpit, with his helmet equipped, no one would be able to recognize him. The starting shot rang out, and Hiccup was racing down the runway. Lifting off the ground and into the air, the route planned for the pilots took them into the seastack maze off the coast of Berk. He had raced this route many times in the past, including his first time flying.

Just like the past, Hiccup rose through the clouds, obscuring the spectator's view of him, he heard over the announcer's voice over the broadcast channel, "oh! He has gone above the clouds ladies and gents, the Night Fury is preparing." Hiccup smirked at that, cutting the engine and stalling out. The wasted time above the clouds will need to be made up for. Hiccup extended the flaps, giving him better control as he dived down towards the sea stacks. He read his timer, 5:18. Retracting the flaps, Hiccup heard the plane's whistling, the sound of the Night Fury. Some of the sea stacks were connected by bridges to the main island, enabling spectators to literally be above the racing planes. They stared in awe as the Night Fury zoomed past them, twisting and turning, rolling clockwise and counterclockwise, ascending and descending underneath the bridges and spectators.

Nothing but a black blur at that speed, yet Hiccup pulled it off flawlessly, listening to the broadcast channel again, he could tell the announcer was jumping up and down in his cubicle. "He has done it again ladies and gentlemen, setting a new record for the tournament qualifiers! The Night Fury has passed the secondary qualifier with an earth shattering six minutes and twenty two seconds!" Hearing that, Hiccup pulled up into the air and rolled four times before aligning himself with the ground.

After landing, Dagur approached Hiccup. "Fancy flying there, Fury," he tensed up, "oh wait, would you rather be called Night Fury, Night, or Fury. I completely forgot to ask." Dagur rolled back and forth on his heel, looking rather nervous.

Hiccup looked at him oddly, answering slowly. "You can just call me Night, no harm done."

The announcer's voice boomed again, "next up, Dagur of the Berserker Isles!"

Dagur beamed. "Well wish me luck, Night. I hope to see you again soon." He jogged towards his plane, currently being prepped on the runway. Hiccup mounted his motorcycle, driving home.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer, everything here is owned by dreamworks, except for me. That would be slavery.

Chapter Seven : Nature

Time skip : Approx. 1 month

Other than the secondary qualifier, October passed by boringly, and it is currently the second saturday of November. Hiccup played the voicemail on the 'Fury' phone, it was the announcer from last month's qualifier. "This is a group voice message, sent out to all tournament contestants. Due to the holiday season coming up, and the forecasted weather for the winter season, the Archipelago Air Racing Tournament has decided to postpone official races until springtime. Emails will be sent to each pilot and their manager with further information."

Immediately Hiccup shouted. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" He ended the voicemail, and rushed out of the front door, almost spilling his half eaten breakfast. "C'mon, bud! After I tell Karl the news, we'll go into the forest." Toothless jumped up and grabbed a few strips of bacon off the plate, and ran off after Hiccup.

Hiccup knocked on the Hofferson's door, ready for more shouting. Instead he got a feminine, "I'll get it!" from the other side. And it was Astrid, perfect. One of the few people able to make him stutter with a glance.

"H-hi Astrid. Is your dad home?"

She replied slowly, "yeah, why?"

Quickly thinking of a believable situation, "he called me earlier, said he was having trouble with the water heater again." His eyes darted from her, and to the wall, then back to her.

"He's down in the basement then, you know where to go." Astrid said, shortly, not buying into his explanation.

He looked at Toothless, "alright bud, stay here, this shouldn't take long." Hiccup walked hastily, but instead to the basement, he headed to the home office, again, ready for more shouting. He saw Karl pacing back and forth in the room, listening to his phone. He glanced up, and saw Hiccup on the stairs. Tapping the speaker icon, the last bit of the message played out for both of them to hear.

"So I take it you already heard?" He asked.

Hiccup answered. "Yeah, I came over as soon as I heard it. I haven't checked the email yet, I figured you would have done so already."

"Well come on then, Lad." Karl said.

A minute later, they were both hunched over in front of the home-office computer screen, reading the email. It repeated the voice mail message, but the email stated that private duels or races were still allowed, and that each racing team would be compensated for the lost time. "I guess we should find out how much we're being compensated," Hiccup muttered, straightening up, "Toothless is begging for a run into the forest. He's probably going crazy right now." He said, looking at Karl.

"Alrighty, lad, I'll show you out." Karl said, with a small smile.

They walked to the front door, and stepping out onto the small porch, he saw Toothless snuggling up against Astrid. She had a bright smile, beaming with excitement as Toothless kept trying to lick her. "Oh I see how it is, bud." Hiccup made a grandiose gesture. He turned his gaze to Astrid, "he doesn't normally like strangers, you don't happen to have food on you, do you?"

She began to rub Toothless' belly, "no, but we did have sausage and egg this morning, he probably smells it on me."

"Toothless, hear that?" Toothless nodded slowly, groaning as he slid off of Astrid's lap, and sprawled out on the floor. "Oh you big baby boo, we can get something later." Toothless made a couple of half growls, making him sound like scooby-doo.

Astrid bit back a laugh, whispering to Hiccup, "we have some leftovers if he's still hungry." Hiccup's eyes went wide, and immediately Toothless jumped up, bounding around on patio.

Sighing he said, "I think he likes you since you have food, considering I just fed him his food, plus the extra bacon from my breakfast. Thank you, Astrid, for fattening my dog up." He finished dryly.

"I don't think you needed my help with that," she laughed.

"Thanks for summing that up. Okay, Toothless, what will it be, food or forest." Toothless raised a paw towards the door. Astrid giggled lightly, opening the door. As soon as she did, Toothless scampered inside, causing Karl to yelp in surprise. A second later, he ran back through the door with three links of sausage hanging from his mouth. Giving a canine smile, Hiccup chuckled. "Alright, I guess it's food and forest." Toothless began trot off towards the line of trees. "Thanks again, Astrid. Gah Toothless!" He shouted, taking off after Toothless.

"What a weird guy," Astrid murmured to herself, before going inside to find her father with a broken egg on him.

000

"I don't know Toothless, I mean, I think we get along okay outside of school, but in school she doesn't want anything to do with me." Hiccup said, walking beside Toothless, who gave him a grunt that seemed to say, " _Uh huh."_ Toothless began to bark, and chased after a squirrel.

"Toothless!?" Hiccup ran after the black dog. After a few minutes of chasing, Toothless skidded to a stop before Hiccup, who tripped and landed right behind Toothless. Picking himself up off the ground he looked forward, and saw a cove with a small lake, and a waterfall feeding into it. Tall stone cliffs acted as walls, keeping the cove's nature pristine. A few trees dotted the clearing, the tallest being about the height of where he was.

"Whoa bud," Hiccup gasped in amazement, he had seen rolling hills, rivers, mountains, nearly the entire archipelago from the sky, but those sights were not even close in comparison to the clearing that lay before him. He had no way of getting down, or back up for that matter, and Toothless couldn't climb. After poking around on some rocks near the edge of the cliff they were on, Hiccup accidentally pushed one too many, and sent a small rockslide to the ground below them, creating a rather simple way in or out.

Toothless scampered down the fallen rocks, careful to not fall, while Hiccup took his time getting down. Finally on the ground, he promptly found a boulder by the lake to sit against, watching Toothless run in circles around the lake. After pulling out his journal, Hiccup began to draw the scenery around him, including Toothless as he is now chasing his tail. The next several hours were spent drawing, napping, drawing again, and playing fetch with Toothless.

Reluctantly, the duo returned home. Hiccup planned on going on a night flight, as a way to mentally prepare himself for the upcoming week, and to also keep his piloting skills sharp, since racing is off the table for the next two months. Leaving Toothless in the backyard with a t-bone steak, he packed a backpack with his flightsuit.

Hiccup drove to the airfield, calling Gobber on the way. Quickly checking the time at a stoplight, he read 7:40 pm. "Hey Gobber."

"Evenin' Lad," Gobber greeted him, cheerfully.

"I'm taking the mustang for a spin, I probably won't be home until late tonight." Hiccup stated.

"Ohh alright." He said, "but I expect you to work tomorrow, ye hear me? I've gotta go Lad, be careful, and don't fall asleep again."

"Sounds good. Later Gobber" Hiccup said as Gobber hung up.

After arriving at the airfield, Hiccup went into the private office in his hanger to change into his flight suit.

000

The gang walked into the restaurant as Gobber answered the phone. Accidentally overhearing the conversation, she recognized Hiccup's voice on the other side, saying that he was going to be home late again. ' _What would he be doing'_ she thought to herself, but when a waitress came by for orders, she decided to not think about it.

Tonight, the gang had planned on hanging out on the beach, light a fire, have fun. Simple plan, not much to it. Ruffnut invited Fishlegs, whom she had a secret crush on, though she wouldn't tell anyone, and he brought snacks and a book, while Tuffnut brought a frisbee and a football. Scott had agreed to drive them, and brought firewood, and Astrid and Ruffnut were tasked with bringing drinks. After finishing dinner, they headed to the beach, on the far side of the island. The weather was perfect for a small campfire, the air was still, but not humid or muggy, it was cool, like a sweater-weather temperature.

While Scott and Tuff were throwing the football to each other, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Astrid were having a conversation about various topics, ranging from different pranks, school, and finally, the air racing tournament. Locked in a heated debate on who is better, Night Fury, or Dagur the Deranged, while Fishlegs put out statistics on both racers, Astrid and Ruffnut used his factual knowledge to argue. Rather violently, that is.

Deciding the end their argument with a draw, and after a few minutes of name calling, Ruff realized that Scott didn't have a nickname. Upon hearing his name, Scott came over, "so you babes talkin' about me? I knew you were into me." He said, kissing a bicep.

Astrid suppressed a gag, while Ruffnut just laughed in his face. "We said your name because you don't have a nickname yet."

"Errr, yeah he does," Tuffnut said, "we called him Snotlout in third grade because he sneezed all over the teacher."

"Dammit, Tuff, I thought we all forgot about that!" Scott - hmph excuse me, Snotlout - said. The twins snickered at his nickname. They were about to start another conversation when a buzzing sound drowned them out, as they looked upwards, all they saw was a black blur against the evening sun, zooming upwards into the sky.

000

Hiccup was having a grand time, the far side of the island rarely ever had air traffic, so it was basically a fun zone. Pulling up, heading high into the evening sky, he saw Berk in its entirety, taking in the view. Nearly at fifteen thousand feet, he cut the engine. Soon gravity set to work, pulling him back down towards the ground. Angling himself to face the ground, he headed straight down, spine-tingling exhilaration coursing through his veins. He pulled up at the last second, just above skimming the water. A wake appeared behind him as he sped parallel to the sea. The buzzing and roaring of the engine, sending chills down his spine.

As the sun fell below the horizon, and the moon and stars appeared, Hiccup stayed in flight, coasting on high altitude winds. He stayed in the sky, enjoying the liberty he had while in the sky. Up here, no one could bother him, tease him, push him around. He was by himself, in serenity. Eyes widening in amazement as the Northern lights appeared, hundreds of shades of blues, greens, and purples dancing across the sky. Circling around, he stayed in the air for another twenty minutes, enjoying the millions of stars that lit up the night.

Noticing the time, nearly 10 pm, he decided to return home. After landing, and taxi-ing to the hanger, he changed back into his normal clothes, black converse with dark blue jeans and a black shirt under a green hoodie.

As soon as he arrived at his home, Toothless tackled him. Slobbering him into submission. "Gah-ew-agh-e-eww Toothless! You know that doesn't wash out." Hiccup grumbled. Slowly, Hiccup got up off the floor, managing to push the large dog off of him, and headed upstairs to get ready to sleep. After brushing his teeth and changing out of his freshly soaked clothes, thanks to Toothless, he flopped on his bed, tucking himself in against the wall.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer, dreamworks owns everything, sorry disney.

AN: Woo! I finally have free time, and I am currently spending that free time writing. :D (currently writing at 3 AM )

 _Flight is the epitome of freedom. Unless you're afraid of heights._

Chapter Eight : Slight Complications

When Hiccup finally arrived to English class the following monday, Mr. Kuradeel was prompted to lecture him on the etiquette of a student, and that meant arriving on time each day. He replied with a sheepish, but uncaring, "sorry Mr. Kuradeel, won't happen again." He was about to doze off again, until the annoyingly stern english teacher got his attention with an announcement.

"As you know, Winter Break is approaching, and I find it in my duty as a teacher to assign you a project over the holidays." Everyone groaned, before he carried on. "You didn't let me finish, you will be working on this project with a partner." Less people groaned at that. He began to pass out project prompts, which outlined a revised and edited book report, along with an essay, regarding at least three main characters of the book, and finally, a powerpoint, to use as a conclusion and tie up any loose knots. The project's due date was one week after they returned to school.

Hiro raised his hand cautiously, "Mr. Kuradeel, sir, is it wise to assign such a project while we are preparing for semester finals?"

"Do you want me to add more work?" The teacher asked.

Hiro cleared his throat, "no, no sir."

"Well, unless there are any further questions, the partners will be: Frank and Hiro, Kate and Heather, Hayden and Astrid, -" Hiccup zoned out right there. Oh Odin, that's going to make things difficult, it's hard to keep a secret around a very pretty blond girl who happens to be very investigative and deductive. Plus, there's Scott to worry about, huge chance he'll be jealous.

Hiccup snapped back to reality when Astrid nudged him, "hua- what?"

"Geez, Hiccup, how much sleep did you get last night?" She asked, noticing the bags under his eyes. Astrid took time to look him up and down, seeing the hints of lean muscle underneath the green hoodie he was wearing. She spied the stubble along his sharp jaw line. A question, she asked a question. Astrid returned her attention to him in general, no longer checking him out.

Hiccup yawned, "I think... I'm still awake from yesterday…" He trailed off, in realization. He had stayed up all night working on blueprints for a flight suit to use for skydiving, but he just realized that he hadn't actually slept.

"So, what book do you want to do? Choices are Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, and finally Of Mice and Men."

"To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies are really good for character development." Hiccup said tiredly, "I'm fine with either one."

"To Kill a Mockingbird it is," she said.

They continued to talk over essay ideas, and what to do for the powerpoint until the bell rang. Sixth period was a study hall period for Hiccup, so he went ahead and walked to the workshop, where Gobber was teaching a class of sophomores. He recognized one, a kid named Gustav but nicknamed 'mini-scott.' They were so alike they could've been siblings. Heading into his personal workshop, Hiccup used a broom to sweep the floor, and promptly used his bag as a pillow and fell asleep.

The seventh period bell woke him. Groaning, he stood up, and waved at Gobber, who was repairing the track wheel of a lathe. Gobber waved his prosthetic hand, in a motion that relatively said, 'go back ta bed.' Hiccup walked back into his corner and fell asleep again.

After school, Gobber drove Hiccup home. "Is everything okay in school, Hiccup?" Gobber asked, worriedly.

"Yeah, Gobber. Everything's fine." Hiccup said, waving a hand in the air for emphasis.

"A few of the other kids were talking about you behind yer back, sayin yer 'useless' or somethin." Gobber explained. "I wish you would tell someone that yer the 'Night Fury,' Lad."

"Tell me something I don't know, Gobber. I know they talk badly about me." Hiccup said, giving a small shrug. "I'm so used to it that I'm not bothered by it much, being the school's laughingstock gives me a pretty good cover as well." He finished, laying back in the jeep's passenger seat. Hiccup spoke quietly, "I don't want people trying to be my friend just because I'm a popular racer… I want to have friends, that are friends with 'me' and not 'Night Fury.' Do you see what I mean?"

The jeep drove into the driveway. "Yes, I see what you mean, Lad. Now c'mon, ye gotta do ye homework." They both exited the car, and went inside their home. Hiccup did his homework, ate dinner, and went upstairs to catch up on precious sleep.

The next day, he was more alert, mostly because of the two cups of coffee in the morning, and a redbull on the bus to school. Hiccup went through his normal routine, except he wasn't getting slammed into lockers. Huh, that's odd. ' _Oh wait, there he is.'_ Hiccup thought, watching Scott angrily approach him, flanked by the twins. "Mornin' Scott, Tuff, Ruff." He greeted them casually, and walked away.

Scott pulled him back at the hood of his hoodie. "Come here, Useless." He growled. Turning around to face him, Hiccup was met with three smells, body odor, sweat, and alcohol? "You think you can steal Astrid from me? She's mine, Useless, and don't you dare forget that."

"I am not yours, and never will be, Snotlout. Now screw off." Astrid snarled, she approached them from behind, catching them off guard. Hiccup had the gall to snicker, he thought everyone had forgotten the nickname.

"Ah, hey babe, how about you an' me - OW!" He attempted to put an arm around her, but she twisted it back towards him.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut backed off in a heartbeat, seeing the mood Astrid was in. Hiccup took an intentional step back, clearing himself of Snotlout. "Alright, Astrid, I think that's enough." Snotlout was currently on his knees, trying to relieve the pressure Astrid put on him. With a smirk, she let him go, and he cradled his right arm.

Sulking, he stood up and made his way to the nurse. Hiccup stepped closer to Astrid, "thanks, you didn't have to do that, you know." He gave a small smile.

"Someone had to put 'Lout in his place." She said simply, with a grin.

A part of him felt relieved, and another part of him felt fear, he was going to dig himself too deep. The rest of the day passed by in routine, just without the physical violence from the twins or Snotlout.

After softball practice, Astrid found Hiccup sitting alone in front of the school. He was stuck in his journal again, by the looks of it. "Hey Hiccup." She greeted him.

He was startled by her voice, head whipping around quickly. "Oh h-hi, Astrid." Hiccup shifted his hands slightly to cover up the blueprints for his flight suit. Hopefully she didn't notice anything. He leaned back against a brick column, "I owe you one, for earlier." He stated, the blushed lightly with his next sentence. "Maybe, if you want to of course, perhaps we could-"

"Hayden Haddock, are you asking me on a date?" She asked, with seriousness.

He was definitely digging himself too deep. He paled, then regained some color, "I-uh-I, I mean, I meant it as a purely…" Hiccup thought over his next words carefully. "A purely platonic outing, as a gesture of thanks." When her expression didn't change, he got worried, "we don't have to -"

She cut him off, "Sure, Hiccup, it'll give us a chance to work on the project more." Only for the project, she told herself. Astrid couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about him, whenever anyone talked about Night Fury, he would downplay the pilot, saying that the form or the vector angles or something else was off balanced. Not only that, he and her father are really good friends, she wanted to learn how that came to be, the Hofferson's and Haddock's were family friends in the past, but that changed when Stoick and Valka died.

On the other hand, his mind was screaming in excitement, sure it wasn't a date, just a platonic meeting between two partners, for a project. With food involved. Wow, that did sound like a date. He was sure he would regret whatever 'this' was later. "So, pick you up tonight at six? We'll head over to the Forge, free food sounds appetizing."

"Sure thing, Hiccup." She said, before getting in her car, and driving off.

"I can't believe that just happened." He mumbled to himself.

000

Astrid's phone rang, answering it, she heard her father's voice. "Hey, Astrid."

"Hi Dad. What's up?" She greeted him.

"Your mother got a night shift again at the hospital, and I'm working overtime at the office, I left twenty bucks on the counter for food. Sorry we can't be home tonight, darling."

"It's okay, Dad, Hayden's taking me out for dinner." She said, nonchalantly.

"Hayden?"

"Yeah, Dad, we're just going to have food and talk about an english project. By the way, we were assigned an english project yesterday."

"Alright, stay safe, and try not to scare him too badly." He said. "I've gotta go, bye Astrid."

000

Karl immediately called Hiccup. "I can't believe you had it in ya, Lad, good job!"

"Uhh, thanks?" Hiccup said, sheepishly. "What did I do?"

"You finally asked my daughter out on a date." He began to laugh.

"Whoa, hold your horses. I'm not going that far yet, this is just a purely platonic meeting of two friends... involving food." Hiccup said, unconvincingly.

"Whatever you tell yourself, Lad."

"Mr. Hofferson, I can't get close to her, not yet anyways. I know that she knows something is off about me. If we were to date, she would eventually find out. And that is not good." Hiccup said, trying to explain.

"I don't like hiding things anymore than you do, Hayden. But the truth is, is that eventually someone will find out, and I think you can trust Astrid enough to not spill your secret." Karl said. "Well, I'm at the office, so I'll see you later, bye Hayden. Oh, and Hayden, a racer named Camicazi wants to duel you, thought you should know."

"Thanks for the info, bye Mr. Hofferson." The phone call ended, leaving Hiccup to ponder on whether or not, or how he would tell Astrid. If he decides to tell her.

"Oh man, this is so messed up…" He mumbled to himself.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer : Dreamworks owns everything.

AN: I really hate it when I finish writing a chapter at like 1 am because I have to wait for the next day because not that many people are awake. It's a slight issue, I'll admit. Before anyone asks, I watched Rio over the weekend just because, and I watched Monty Python yesterday.

" _The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you're the pilot."_

Chapter Nine : Fueling the Fire

Hiccup approached the Hofferson household, feeling a little anxious. He rang the doorbell, and waited. Astrid opened the door, and stepped out. "Hey, Hayden." She greeted him.

"H-hi, Astrid. And you can just call me Hiccup." He said sheepishly. He pointed a thumb back to Gobber's jeep, which he had borrowed. "Shall we?" She nodded, and walked off the porch, with Hiccup following behind.

Hiccup opened the door for her, and she gave him a grin. He went to the other side, and got into the driver's seat. They drove in silence for about two minutes, occasionally glancing at each other. He finally asked, "music?"

"Yeah, sure." She said. He clicked the radio on, and Lionel Richie's ' _Say you, Say me'_ began playing. The sunset lit up Hiccup's features exponentially, and Astrid became captivated by both the music and him. A small blush formed on her cheeks, as she listened to the song.

He however, was seconds away from panicking, he blushed furiously when the song continued playing, and when Astrid looked at him. "I-uh- I have nothing to do with this." He clicked the radio again, and a different segment of the same song played. This went on for a few more times, before he clicked the radio off. He muttered to himself. "I'm _sooo_ going to kill Gobber later." Astrid barely managed to stifle a laugh.

Eventually, the duo made it to the restaurant, and were promptly seated at a booth. Gobber came by with their food, two viking burgers with extra fries. "My little prank worked, didnae' it?" Hiccup groaned, and held his head with both hands. Astrid laughed lightly, much to his dismay. Gobber let out a bellowing laugh, and patted Hiccup's back, nearly sending him into his plate of food.

"Thank you, Gobber, for that. Brilliant prank. I'll get you back, eventually." He said, dryly.

Gobber retorted, "and I'll watch it fail. Like the air blower incident." Gobber chuckled.

"Thank you for summing that up."

"What happened?" Astrid asked innocently.

"I'll leave the lad to tell ya the story, Odin knows it's hilarious." Gobber walked off, giving a crude gesture to Hiccup that Astrid didn't see. Hiccup blushed deeply, and awkwardly coughed when Astrid sent him a questioning look.

Gobber went to the kitchen, where Karl was standing. Karl shot him a questioning look. "Lionel Richie," Gobber explained. "I rigged the radio to play it if they turned it on, an' by the looks of it, my plan worked." The two men chuckled to themselves, before peeking out of the kitchen door window.

"So, Hiccup, how'd the air blower prank fail?" She asked.

"I-uh-uhm," he sighed. "I'll just start from the beginning. Gobber pranked me, with the rubber band around the faucet trick. I'll admit, he got me good. So the next day, I filled the jeep's air conditioner with glitter. Gobber drove around the whole day, no problems at all. When he came home, he asked me to help him clean the air filters. When I unscrewed the filter covers, all of the glitter I had planted fell onto my face." He said. Astrid gave a small smile and laughed lightly. He spoke with mock seriousness. "It took me three days, to get that glitter out of my hair, Astrid."

"Oh please, it couldn't have been that bad." She said.

"My hair sparkled whenever I stood in the sun!" He waved his arms around for emphasis. Astrid laughed at him. "Oh great, now you're laughing at me." Hiccup murmured. "What about you? There has to be some kind of pranking that happens in your family."

"My Mom tried to prank me one time." She said, Hiccup arched an eyebrow, and she asked, "you know how my mom works in the hospital right?" He nodded. "Well, she borrowed a model skeleton and put it in my closet at night. I was secretly awake at the time, so when she finally dozed off, I moved the skeleton from my closet to my parent's closet." Astrid giggled, "Dad was so freaked out, he jumped backwards five feet onto the bed." Hiccup laughed with her. They told each other more stories of themselves. Astrid realized that Hiccup really wasn't that bad of a guy at all, and Hiccup realized that he ran out of fries… and that Astrid looked adorable when she giggles or pouts.

When the waitress came around for their plates, Hiccup pulled out his wallet, Astrid got a good view of it, and realized that he had a pilot's license along with his driver's license. She decided to not say anything of it. Hiccup handed a credit card to the waitress, and told her to put the total on it, even when Astrid refused to have him pay for her food. "Astrid, I gave her the company card, which goes back to the The Forge's bank account, not mine." He explained, hoping to clear some of her frustration.

"Fine." Astrid said, shortly. She changed the subject, before his brilliant green eyes could captivate her again, "so, have you thought any on what to do for the character essay?"

Hiccup pulled out his phone, and loaded up the sparknotes webpage. "I think we'll have the best bet with using Atticus Finch, Scout, and Tom Robinson." He paused a moment, letting her think it through. "Basically the book portrays Scout with a faith that everyone in the community is a good person. Atticus knows that isn't the case, but doesn't tell Scout to preserve her innocence. And Tom Robinson is a representation of a mockingbird, an 'important symbol of innocence destroyed by evil.' Or at least that's what it says on sparknotes." Hiccup finished.

He passed the phone to Astrid for her to read. "That should work Hiccup, but I feel like we might have trouble, since these characters are the most commonly used."

"Then I'll be sure to write the essay when I'm awake." Hiccup said, with a smirk.

"And what's that supposed to mean." Astrid asked.

"You don't remember? I made perfect scores on the English III finals from last year… you tried to break my hand when you found out I did better than you."

Astrid's smile was replaced by a face of shock, "I did?"

"Yeah, right after Scott talked to you." Hiccup said, after taking a drink from his water.

Astrid thought for a moment, trying to remember. Then it dawned on her, Scott must've lied. "Scott never told me anything like that… He said that you called me a whore."

"Oh, well that explains a lot." Hiccup grumbled. "And if it means anything, I would never call you that, ever." He stated with complete seriousness.

She smiled sincerely. "Thanks, Hiccup." She noticed the time on the clock, 8:23 pm. Astrid glanced to the window, and back at Hiccup.

"You ready to head home?" He asked. Astrid nodded, remembering that she still had calculus homework to complete. They walked out of the restaurant together, Hiccup opened the car door for Astrid, just as before. Walking around the front of the car, he saw someone's flash of a camera. He glanced around in mild surprise, then in worry as he saw the Gustav kid with his phone out. Hiccup jumped in the car, hastily putting the car in drive. This predicament is sure to result in problems.

"Everything okay?" Astrid asked, seeing Hiccup's motions.

"Mini-Scott took a picture of us together, and I'm pretty sure he's sent it to Snotlout, yeah, I'm okay." The end of his statement fell into his normal sarcastic tone. He noticed her thoughtful as they slowed to a stop at a red-light. "Astrid, you don't need to get between this, I'll deal with it."

"And why not?" She asked indignantly.

He didn't take his eyes off the road. He spoke with a chill. "Because, it's not your fight. I'm asking you to stay out of it. Okay?"

She didn't understand why he went cold, aside from the fact that he was bullied by the bulky muttonhead. "Not okay, tell me why."

His knuckles tightened around the steering wheel. Hiccup sighed. "He blames me for my parent's deaths, he always believed it was my fault that his aunt and uncle died… Always believed it was my fault that his family broke apart."

"Scott's your cousin?!" She asked in surprise. He nodded slowly, a small frown appearing unnaturally. "T-that doesn't make any sense, you two are the most different people I know."

He spoke distantly, as if he was replaying a memory. "When my parents died, I was sent to live with his family. When I was about four or five years old, his dad came home drunk... started yelling shit like 'the accident was my fault' and that I was a runt and worthless. He beat me that night, while Scott watched. My aunt told Gobber about it, and it was an understatement to say he was furious. Viking ancestry has it's perks." Hiccup said jokingly. "He sued Sean, Scott's dad, and won custody over me. A little while later, Sean came home drunk again, and beat my Aunt to a pulp, saying it was her fault they got sued. They divorced, but since she didn't have any 'legitimate' evidence that Sean abused her, she couldn't win custody of Scott." Hiccup stopped the car in front of her house.

She was in shock, to say the least. Hiccup spoke again with a softer tone. "Astrid, I trust you to keep this information to yourself, okay? It'd be the end of me if Scott found out I told you." Astrid nodded, and stepped out of the car.

He walked her to the door, as a gentleman would. Astrid wanted, needed, to know more. Before Hiccup could react, she punched him in the shoulder. He sputtered. "That's for getting me sappy." She said, before pressing her lips to his cheek, "and that's for everything else." She turned around and walked inside before he could say anything. After the door closed, he stared at it dumbly as his hand ghosted above the spot she kissed.

000 Timeskip to weekend 000

The rest of the week passed in a blur after that night. Which was odd, because he could've sworn Gustav would've sent the picture to Scott. Hiccup still felt nervous around Astrid, however she became increasingly comfortable around him. He slid his helmet on, clicking it in place with the rest of his piloting gear, before stepping out of the hangar. He climbed the ladder to the mustang, and taxied to the runway.

Hiccup looked to the KingCobra next to him, seeing a woman with crazy blond hair inside the cockpit. He wouldn't lie, Camicazi is a dangerous pilot, always pushing her plane to the limits. But if you're not pushing the plane, or yourself, to the limits, then it's not flying.

A small crowd of spectators came out to watch the duel, it was a simple speed test, just like the first qualifier. Winner got two thousand dollars and whatever the people bet. Night Fury and Camicazi lined up, front wheels resting on the white starting line. A very pretty woman stood about thirty feet away, with a red and white checkered flag resting on her thigh. She waved the flag, and the duo upped their respective throttles to the max. Night Fury overtook Camicazi on the runway, but needed a little extra time to get off the ground.

They were flying neck and neck to Bog Island, about thirty minutes away by flight, and an hour and a half by ferry. Hiccup pulled upwards into a 5-degree climb, just to gain a little altitude, and at the same time manage to keep pace with Camicazi. The roars and whirring of the engine was soothing to Hiccup, as he pitched the nose forward slightly, gaining speed and finally overtaking Camicazi. He heard her curse over the plane-broadcast channel with a very colorful words.

"Geez, Cami, I didn't think anyone could paint with words like that."

"Why don't you go back to the night where no one sees you, Night." Cami sneered, but under the rough exterior, he could tell she was joking.

He faked mock pain, holding a hand to his heart as he spoke over the radio. "Ouch, that hurt." Hiccup dived down to ocean level, giving another couple hundred feet of space between them.

"Oh, running away are you? Have at you!" Camicazi dived after him, eventually she reached the edge of his ailerons.

' _Did she really just quote Monty Python?'_ Hiccup thought, grinning as he replied. "Tis' but a scratch… yet you wound me anyways.. Gluteus Maximus."

"Biggus Dickus." She retorted.

Silence for a minute. He coughed awkwardly, before dropping his voice an octave. "Well, you're not wrong." They laughed together even though they were racing against each other.

They raced and sped and zoomed towards Bog Island, quickly turned around, and sped back to Berk, both eager to win two thousand dollars and the betting money. With two thousand dollars, Hiccup could buy the material he needed for his flight suit. With two thousand dollars, Camicazi could have huge party, complete with all kinds of alcohol and a DJ.

Hiccup pulled ahead by a few feet as he zoomed just above the finish line. Camicazi followed a few short seconds after. She followed his path, looping around the airfield to slow down. After they touched down, and slowed the planes to a stop, they got out of their planes and shook hands. He turned around to check the wheels of his plane, and that was a mistake. When he felt his pockets, he realized his wallet was missing. Camicazi whispered in his ear, "well, Haddock, this is a turn of events."

He didn't move, he tensed visibly. "I'll give you half if you keep the secret." He bargained. Her expression didn't change. "I'll buy you lunch."

"You drive a hard bargain, but I'll bite." They shook hands. Hiccup taxied the mustang to his hangar, and Camicazi did the same with her KingCobra, but to her temporary hangar. Hiccup took the envelope of money from the race supervisor, and collected the betting cash, in another envelope.

He placed the envelopes of cash in his flight vest, and mounted his motorcycle. Hiccup turned back to Cami. "Are you coming or not?"

000

AN: By the way, Hiccup kept his helmet on the entire time, just putting this here to make that clear


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer : Dreamworks owns everything.

AN: Time to celebrate! Break out the champagne, we broke a hundred followers! Yes I realize that it happened a few days ago, but I only just now noticed. Thank you everyone for following and favoriting. :D

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."

Chapter Ten : Learning

Hiccup, still wearing his helmet, had driven Camicazi to a local pizzeria. As soon as they stepped into the restaurant, all eyes turned to them and phones were pulled out. "So much for a subtle entrance," he remarked.

"I think it's your helmet. It can't be me." Cami said sarcastically.

Hiccup scoffed. "Uh huh... let's get a booth." A waitress led them to a booth, in an emptier part of the building. They sat across from each other, both thinking 'I'm seated across from one of the most popular people on the island.' They agreed to order a medium pepperoni pizza.

He noticed the mischievous glint in her sky blue eyes. "Alright, you want to ask a question, go ahead."

"What's with the helmet?" She propped an elbow on the table and held her chin.

Hiccup leaned back into his seat. "You could say it has something to do with my complete lack of self confidence." He unclipped the mouth segment, and set it on the table. The helmet without the mouth segment looked like a black DareDevil helmet.

"Nope, that's too easy. There's something else, isn't there." It wasn't a question, per say, it was a statement.

"I don't even know why I'm saying this, but yes... I'll spare you the sob story." He said shortly.

"Go ahead, what else do we have to talk about."

"The fact that you pick pocketed me." He felt his pockets, to find his wallet was missing again. "Two times now, actually." Hiccup stated dryly. Camicazi handed him the wallet and smirked. The waitress came by with two glasses of water, and the pizza platter. The waitress walked back to the kitchen, glancing back at them.

"You still haven't told your sob story." She said, after taking a sip of her water.

"Uhm, let's see. I became an orphan with a car accident, went to go live with one of my uncles, he said that it was my fault the accident happened. He beat me, then my aunt told a family friend, then the family friend won custody over me in court. Uncle shithead went home drunk the next day, beat the crap out of my aunt, and she divorced him. Then my cousin believed that it was my fault that his family broke apart. And essentially for most of my life people have looked at me like I'm nothing, a runt, a mistake. When I became this guy." He pointed at his helmet. "I had a chance to be something better, and I never wanted any of the fame to shine on me. I never wanted to be famous, I just wanted the escape."

"You like the freedom of being in the sky, of being by yourself where nothing could touch you.."

"You just read me like an open book." They ate in silence until Hiccup's phone rang. Oddly enough, it came from Cami's pockets. "Okay, you need to stop that," he grumbled. Cami handed him his phone. Hiccup tapped a button on his helmet to answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me, Astrid."

"Oh, hi Astrid." He paused for a moment, "where'd you get my number?"

"I asked my Dad for it. Mr. Kuradeel just sent out an email, it says that we have to write three essays in total, instead of just one for the three characters."

Hiccup groaned, Cami gave him a weird look. He mouthed, "School," she nodded. "Alright, well that just means we have to do triple the work. With the essay prompts he gave us, I'm sure we can work something out."

"Sounds good, think we can meet up tomorrow to work on it?"

Camicazi watched an adorable grin appear on him. He replied. "That sounds great, Astrid. Quick question, where are we meeting up?"

"My house, sometime in the afternoon?" She asked.

Hiccup still had the grin, "y-yeah, I'm taking the morning manager shift, so I'll be free anytime after 2pm."

"Alright Hiccup, see you then." Astrid hung up.

Camicazi snickered, "you like her, don't you?"

He quickly recollected himself. "W-w-what makes you think that?"

"Well, two things, Astrid means divine beauty, so she's obviously pretty unless she's a living paradox. And two, you had this adorable grin on your face." Camicazi teased him. She glanced at him, grinning maniacally, and whispered, "what base are you on?"

He sputtered for a full minute, then sighed, "I'm not even on first base, she only knows me because we were assigned an english project together. It doesn't help that my cousin is very… how do I put this."

"Possessive?" She supplied.

"Exactly, he can't take no for an answer, so he beats up anyone else who tries asking her out. And the fact that she's talking to me more than him, is enough for him to go on a temper tantrum. There's also a small problem of me being… this." He gestured to his piloting gear

"He sounds like a spoiled brat. No offense. And my advice on the whole Night Fury thing, don't bury yourself too deep."

Hiccup laughed, "well, I made a mistake then." He changed the subject, "what do you think of that new guy, Dagur?"

"He knows what he's doing, a little crazy, but then again, what pilot isn't."

He chuckled, "you got that right." They talked for a little while longer, Hiccup clicked the mouth segment back on and paid for the meal, and they walked out of the pizzeria to Hiccup's motorcycle. "Well, Cami, it was nice getting to know you. Too bad I'll be beating you again. Here you go," he tossed her a roll of twenty dollar bills. "Do you need a ride to where you're staying? Or should I take you back to the airfield."

"Don't worry about it, Night, I'll call a friend. By the way," he turned back to her, "you should think about getting a different bike to use as Night Fury, someone will recognize the license plate eventually."

"I'll take it under advisement, and can I have my keys back?" Cami tossed him his keys. "Later, Cami." He retracted the kickstand, and drove off.

She pulled her phone out, and selected a contact. "You won't believe what just happened."

A woman's voice responded. "What happened?"

"I just had lunch with Night Fury!" Camicazi said with a grin.

"Oh? How was he?"

She watched him turn onto a different street. "He's not bad, for a guy."

000

"Hey Mom, can I ask you something?" Astrid asked, trying to satisfy her need for information.

Her mother, Eliza, had taken a sick day, to rest and recover from two overnight shifts in a row. "Sure, Astrid."

"What do you think of Hayden?" She asked, hoping to find something out.

"Why?" Eliza asked, and gasped. "You have something for him, don't you!?" She noticed Astrid blush lightly, and decided to tease her a bit more. "C'mon, what do you like about him? You can tell me." She crossed her heart with a finger.

Astrid groaned in frustration, "I just want to know more about him, I really don't have any feelings for him. That, and he's coming over tomorrow, so I'd rather stay away from awkward topics."

"But you just said that you wanted to know more about him, which means that you are interested in him. What about him? The green eyes? Do you have a thing for the humble gentleman and unassumingly brilliant type?" Eliza numbered them off with her fingers.

"MOM!"

Eliza began to laugh, "why do you want to know, sweetie?"

Astrid sighed. "Because... it frustrates me that I don't know anything about him."

"Your father said you went on a date with him last week, did Hayden tell you anything about himself?"

"It wasn't a date! We were meeting up to talk about the english project." Astrid stated unconvincingly.

"Uh huh, sure."

"He told me a bit about himself, but what I wanted to know is why he has a pilot's license." Astrid said, though she didn't notice her mother tense slightly. "Why does he have one, anyways, he's never talked about flying a plane before."

Eliza motioned for Astrid to sit down on the couch. "Your father used to be a pilot, before his current job. One night, a few years ago, he found Hayden crying at the cemetery, grieving for his parents." Astrid nodded slowly, trying to catch onto where she was going with this. "He offered to teach Hayden how to fly. Two years went by, with your father training Hayden, and he showed promising talent at the controls. Karl came home one evening after a training session, and explained to me that Hayden flew to savor the freedom the sky gave him. One mile of dirt, gives you one mile to walk. One mile of runway, and you could travel the world, Astrid."

"How come neither of you told me?" Astrid asked.

"Hayden didn't want anyone to know. If he trusts you, don't betray that trust, Astrid. He's a good man, stubborn like his father yet compassionate like his mother."

"Why doesn't he talk to anyone then?"

"His reasons are his own, now, you said he was coming over tomorrow? I might take another off day, it's been awhile since I've seen him in person." Eliza said with a mischievous smile.

"Please don't embarrass me," Astrid pleaded.

Eliza glanced at her daughter. "I will make no such promises."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer : Dreamworks owns everything.

AN: That moment when the writer realizes it's been nearly two weeks of no updates. (I was very surprised) Sorry about the break everyone, it'll probably happen again, but still. In my defence however, I got hooked on Nightstar Productions' 'My Hope' and 'On My Own' and Vala411's 'Phantasm'

Chapter Eleven : Private Investigation

Hiccup was prepared, he spent most of yesterday reading the book, and remembered most of everything that's happened so far. What he was not prepared for though, was listening to over two hours of sappy love songs that Astrid's mother decided to play on the house radio. Astrid had warned him about something like this, and he understood fully. Astrid was sprawled out across her bed, holding the book over the edge while reading, and Hiccup was seated on the carpet, leaning against the bed, tapping away at his laptop.

They worked together, writing a paragraph or two, then back to reading. Check sparknotes, go back to reading, write paragraph, check sparknotes again. Read book, write paragraph, then reading again. A very repetitive process, but anytime spent with Astrid was good in Hiccup's book.

Even though she'd never admit it, she knew that he was a good guy. He was a gentleman, with actual manners, he didn't gloat, didn't treat her like an object, actually respected her, and she was growing fond of him. It would be great and all, if her mother was not playing the sappy love songs non stop.

Astrid noticed that Hiccup had been typing the lyrics to the song as they were being sung, instead of writing a quote from the book in front of him. "Hiccup?" He looked up at her, then back to the computer, and groaned.

"S-sorry about that, got carried away." He quickly backspaced the words, and substituted the quote they were going to use. The ghost of a smile crossed Astrid's face and she turned her head to the side, letting the bones crack.

"Do you want to take a break?" She asked, putting a bookmark in between the pages.

"Astrid Hofferson taking a break?" He asked incredulously, turning his gaze from the computer to her. She glared at him. "I-uh, well, I-I guess if you want to." Hiccup backpedaled, running a hand through his shaggy hair. He saved the document and set the laptop beside him. Astrid glanced at him as he stretched, noticing outlines of lean muscle underneath his shirt.

She felt a small blush work its way to her cheeks, and looked away from him, suddenly finding the trees outside her much more interesting. Wait a minute, a blush!? Hofferson's do not blush, or become flustered, why is she like this!? ' _Oh no,_ ' Astrid thought, ' _I can't believe it, UGHH.'_ Similar thoughts ran through her mind, over and over again. Her conversation with her mother replayed in her mind 'the unassuming gentleman type'

"Uhh, Astrid you okay?" Hiccup asked, noticing her blank expression, and seeing how she's spaced out for the past few minutes.

Astrid snapped out of her daze, "huh? Yeah, yeah I'm okay." She rolled over on the bed, and set her gaze to the ceiling fan.

He gave a small smile, and ran a hand through his hair. "So, w-what would you like to do?"

Who better than to answer questions about a person than the person themself? "How about a question game? You answer my questions, and I answer your questions. How's that?" She asked, hoping for affirmation.

" _Wow, she actually wants to get to know me!"_ He 'thought' sardonically. She smacked the back of his head. "I said that outloud, didn't I."

"Yup." She answered, popping the 'p.'

"O-okay, ladies first then." He replied, growing slightly suspicious. It's not everyday the high school's most popular girl is interested in a fishbone.

"What do you like to do for fun?"

Well, that's rather vague. "I-I dunno, I draw a lot, I go into the forest right over there," he pointed to a treeline that extended beyond her backyard fence, "and hang out with Toothless."

"I was expecting video games and motorcycles." She stated bluntly, thinking back to his motorcycle that he owns.

He chuckled. "Oh, haha. Just so you know, I can kick anyone's ass at Battlefield, Call of duty, and I've completed every Assassin's Creed game to date." Hiccup stopped himself from rambling on. "Okay, wow, I'm going to stop myself." He muttered to himself, receiving a small giggle from Astrid. Hiccup turned his gaze from the trees outside to her. "How about you, what do you like to do for fun?"

"Apart from softball, and watching air races, there's not a lot." Astrid said, rolling over again to be closer to him. "I hang out with the group usually, except when Snotlout is being… Snotlout-"

"I totally understand." He interjected quietly.

"-every now and then, Ruff and I head out to the mall for a shopping day, you know how it is. Stereotypical high school girl stuff." Astrid closed the book, and set it on the nightstand.

"I didn't take you for the 'stereotypical' high school girl, you'd be swooning over Snotlout by now if you were." He mused, earning a punch in the shoulder. "Ow!"

Astrid made a small gagging noise, holding down lunch. "Don't ever say those words in that order again." She warned him. "The day that happens, hell becomes a frozen wasteland."

"Fair enough." He simply stated.

"Okay, next question, may I see some of your drawings? I'm curious."

Uh oh. This might be a problem."I-uh, I mean… just don't get any wrong ideas, okay?" Hiccup said, earning a suspicious stare from the blond girl who just joined him on the floor. He withdrew his journal from his bag, and handed it over as if it was the first Bible. Apart from having close to every thought of his existence in that one hundred page leather bound journal, there were also several sketches of everything around him, including the girl next to him.

Astrid looked at him oddly, accepting the journal, and opening it. She observed each of the pages, almost studying each pencil stroke of each sketch. She was in awe, and she definitely did not have the words for the drawings. Most of them were of the forest, others had blueprints for engines? Then there were some for a suit. Wait… a suit. Night Fury's most recent version. "Hiccup? Isn't this the Night Fury's suit?"

He visibly paled, trying to think of an excuse. "I-I-uh… I've been making - Outfits. He adopted my design, and we kind of hit it off from there."

Astrid whipped her head around so fast, he thought she'd snap her own neck. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"W-what a-am I saying?"

She tackled him, pinning his hands to either side. "That you know Night Fury!?" Oh, yeah… that tiny little bit. He yelped in surprise, trying to move his arms, but to no avail, she had them pinned under her knees.

"Is everything okay up there?" Astrid's mother shouted up from downstairs.

Astrid glanced at Hiccup, who was nodding vigorously, slightly scared of the blonde girl on him. "Yeah! We're okay!" She shouted at the door.

Man, if someone were to enter the room, they'd either blush or simply wolf whistled.

Suddenly the door open revealing Astrid's mother, holding a plate of cut fruit and crackers. "Oh, I'm not interrupting something, am I?" Astrid looked down, seeing Hiccup's very red face, and then at herself, everything clicked together. Too much clicked together to be honest.

She jumped off of him, and Hiccup scrambled to sit up, and pulled his knees to his chest in embarrassment. "I-uh, no, nope. Nothing going on here."

Eliza placed a hand on her hip. "Uh-huh, whatever you say." She could hardly stifle her own giggling, her matchmaking skills worked, unlike Gobber's and Karl's. After placing the snack plate on a dresser, she told them both. "I hope you too understand that you shouldn't be doing that." She laughed internally at their flushed faces. She added on the next part for her own amusement. "At least while I'm here." And with that, she walked out of the room, and closed the door behind her.

There was a light silence in the room, for the next few minutes, until Hiccup whispered. "I think I've just been scarred for life." He put the laptop back on his lap as he dropped his legs to the floor, and Astrid sat down next to him, still in her own embarrassed state.

"Can we agree that this stays between us only?" She mumbled.

Hiccup gave a tiny smile. "Let's just hope she doesn't tell your dad, or Gobber. Otherwise they'd never let us live this down."

Astrid chuckled. "You got that right."

000

Hiccup went home shortly after that, and Astrid was left alone in her room. Setting to work, she revealed a pin board with small photos and red twine connecting push-pins. Honestly, this girl has a future in the FBI, or maybe a crime show, Criminal minds? Avengers? No matter.

A picture was pinned at the top of the board, Night Fury, in his black leather pilot suit. Each piece of the suit, in separate pictures, each of them displayed the quality of the leather, as well as the electronics that were mostly hidden by outer layers. The shoulder pieces displayed the Night Fury's sigil, a black dragon wrapped around itself, with a red tailfin.

Hiccup said earlier that the Night Fury had contacted him, meaning Hiccup should also be on the pin board as well. Astrid found a picture from the junior year's yearbook, and after cutting it out, she pinned it to the board.

She reviewed her information, Hiccup definitely has a connection to Night Fury, her father is a manager for a racer, whose name he has not revealed. Possible connection there? Yellow yarn instead of red. Hiccup has a pilot's license, and her father taught him, according to her mother. Another connection between those two. She had a nagging feeling there was more to Hayden Haddock than he showed.

Just who is Hayden Haddock?


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer : Dreamworks owns everything

Chapter Twelve : External Sources

After watching a few CSI:Miami episodes, Astrid realized the best way to narrow down her suspicions would be to go to the best sleuths she knew, Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

What she was thinking? No one knew, but the twins are the best at staying hidden and hiding things, surprisingly, they also had too much time on their hand. She approached them during lunch. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need your… expertise." Astrid stated.

"Just so you know, Astrid, we are sleuthing sleuth extraordinaires, there are not many of us still around..." Tuffnut stated, putting his elbows on the lunch table and resting his chin on his knuckles.

Ruff continued, after leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms. "...But, we'll hear you out, who's the target?"

"Night Fury."

The twins shared a look at each other, and shrugged. "Alright, we'll do your dirty deeds, what's in it for us?"

Astrid thought long and hard about this, the deal breaker. "I've got connections for fireworks, I can pull a few strings, get some discounts for New Years."

"I do like fireworks." Tuffnut admitted quietly.

"Throw a pizza in and we're good." Ruff stated, pulling out a sheet of paper and a pencil. She began scribbling down words in an uncharacteristically nice handwriting. "Alright, now just sign here and we're your private sleuthing sleuths until we crack the case." She slid the paper to Astrid.

Astrid read over the paper, and it was a client confidentiality form, with an 'x' and a line at the bottom. The conditions, pulling said strings for major discounts on fireworks, as well as an extra large pepperoni pizza. Fair enough. She signed her name, and slid it back to Ruff.

Tuffnut threw his hands in the air, and dug through his backpack and pulled out a monocle and notepad. "Any notes regarding suspects and or said target?"

Astrid revealed a manilla folder, and opened it on the lunch table. "Okay, three things. Hiccup Haddock has a direct connection to Night Fury, he also has a pilot's license, and there might be a connection between Night Fury and my Dad."

Ruff shifted a few news clippings regarding Night Fury's races and persona. The most recent was a race between him and another racer named Camicazi. "How does Hiccup have a connection with Night Fury?"

"He said that Night Fury adopted one of his suit designs, and that they 'hit it off from there.'" Astrid replied.

"Wouldn't it be easier to get Fishlegs or that other nerdy kid to track his phone?" Tuff said.

"I considered that, but since they are his friends, they might lead us to a dead end." It was true, she had thought of most scenarios.

"Makes sense." Ruff said shortly, and closed the folder. "Alright, 'Strid, we're busy until next week, long list of pranks to get through, so we'll call you if we have anything starting next monday, that good? Oh, and one more thing, we're going to be out of town for winter break, so we will not be able to provide our services during that time."

000 Two weeks until Winter Break 000

Gobber and Hiccup were in the school workshop, eating lunch. The larger man worked at 'The Forge' in the mornings, shared his lunch break with Hiccup, taught two classes, and then went back to the restaurant. "So, Gobber, I'm thinking about buying another bike, what should I buy?"

Gobber let out a chuckle. "Lad, if yer planning on buying a bike, I raised you wrong. And shouldn't you be studyin' for those midterms?"

Hiccup looked up and furrowed his brows, and put down his sandwich. "I'm on top of everything, A's in every class, I'll study next week. And 'raised me wrong.' What's that supposed to mean?" He asked indignantly.

"It means tha' if ye think I'm gonna let you buy a bike, ye have to be willin' to build it yerself."

"But what about the bike I have now? I didn't build that one."

"Ehhh… I was drunk." Gobber waved his prosthetic hand around, giving emphasis to his words. "If yer willin' to build the bike, I'll get you the parts. Any thoughts on what you want?"

"Something for 'Night Fury,' you know? Something that makes a statement."

Gobber chuckled. "Don' let anyone hear you sayin' that around here, Lad. How about one of them fancy Ducati's? High speed racing bikes that look great. I suggest the 959 Panigale"

Hiccup searched it up on his phone. "I like it, think we can paint it black?"

"It'll be yer bike, do whatever you want with it!" Gobber laughed again, and took a swig from his coke bottle.

"Gobber, is that really coke?"

"Maybe a little whiskey, don't tell anyone." He whispered.

Hiccup shook his head, "I should probably get going to class, order the parts, and I'll get started on it when they arrive." He tossed their trash in the trashcan, and picked up his bag.

Gobber took another swig. "Later, Lad!" He went back to his computer, and began to order parts from the store page. "I wonder if they do Amazon Prime." He wondered aloud.

By the time seventh period came around, Hiccup was exhausted, staying up all night to finish a custom wingsuit takes its toll on a person. Having to deal with a jealous Snotlout also got on his nerves, being slammed into lockers and random punches are never good for the body. The good news was that the suit was finished. Now all he had to do was test it, safely of course. Who in their right mind would jump out of a plane at twenty five thousand feet with a prototype wingsuit? Hiccup. Hopefully he'd remember the parachute… this time.

Just kidding, after Banzai jumping last year, he's made sure to keep a parachute in all iterations of his flight suit.

Over the next few days, parts came in for Hiccup's new motorcycle, apparently Gobber had all sorts of connections because of his state-wide famous Viking Burger, specifically an old friend of his who goes by the name of Trader Johann. Johann specializes in all sorts of tradable goods, from pencils to autoparts. Everything was legal though, just to clarify, Johann also has a hoarding problem. He likes to trade things, hence the name.

So, as the new parts arrived, Hiccup came by after school to begin the build, setting up the frame and gears, and over the next week and a half of hard work with help from Gobber, and a small suspicion that the twins were watching him a little closer than usual, he was close to being finished with the motorcycle. Not to be bragging, but the instruction manual made it feel like he was putting together a LEGO kit.

During this time, Karl noticed that his daughter had been keeping a close eye on Hiccup, and decided to investigate her curiosity. What he didn't expect to find was a pinboard with Night Fury at the top, Hiccup to the left side, and himself to the right side. Each picture was connected by yarn…

Oh no.

She was much closer than she thought. Karl pulled out his cellphone and dialed Hiccup. On the third ring he picked up.

"Hiccup... Lad we've got a problem."

Hiccup put a serving tray under his shoulder, and held the phone closer to his ear to hear him over the restaurant's noise. "What do you mean a problem?"

"Astrid. She's close to figuring out who Night Fury is."

"What?! How?" Hiccup wasn't very surprised, this call was confirming his suspicions.

"I dunno, but she has this pinboard like in CSI."

"With yarn and everything?" Hiccup stepped into a small office space at the back of the restaurant. He saw Gobber cooking steaks on one of the grills. "Gobber, get over here."

Gobber walked over to him. "Ye?"

"Karl's saying that Astrid is very close to knowing who I am." Hiccup handed him the phone, and Karl repeated his earlier explanations.

"With yarn and everything? Has she been watching that CSI show again?" Gobber asked. Hiccup shrugged. Gobber handed the phone back to Hiccup. 

"Alright, Karl, do you think you can take me up tomorrow? I have an idea."

A door shut on his end of the line. "I should be good. Yeah. Did you get your suit done?"

"Yeah." Hiccup said. "See if you can convince Astrid to come along too."

000

The rumbling of the prop on the small cessna nearly drowned out every other sound. The Hoffersons owned a private plane, paid for by championship winnings and other incomes.

Karl had convinced Astrid to come along, and Eliza was able to get another off day, so the three of them made it a family day, and extended an invitation to Gobber and Hiccup.

The two pilots were sitting up at the front, with Karl managing the radio communications and Hiccup managing the controls, getting them into the air was no problem. He nudged Karl, and gestured with his head towards the rear of the plane. The older man nodded.

Hiccup stood in the small cockpit doorway. He spoke into his microphone, connected to the other's headsets. "Alright, we're going to level out at fifteen thousand feet, and Astrid I hope you didn't eat cereal this morning."

She was alerted by that statement. "W-what do you mean?"

Hiccup gave a lopsided grin. "We're going to be doing a trust exercise!" He exclaimed happily, and threw his fist upwards.

"WHAT!?"


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer : Dreamworks owns everything

AN: I'm calling the beach in chapter 7 'Thor's Beach.'

Chapter Thirteen : Trust

"WHAT!?"

The adults began to laugh. Gobber wiped the tears from his eyes, still chuckling. "Lad, I don't think putting Astrid in this situation will make her trust you."

"Isn't that what trust falls are for?" He gestured vaguely to the side door.

Karl turned his head from the cockpit windows. "Not at fifteen thousand feet!"

Eliza patted her daughter on the arm. "I'm sure you'll be fine, Hiccup's done this before." Astrid was still in shock, they got her up here in a plane, just so she could jump out?! That's outrageous! She didn't notice that Eliza had put a parachute vest on her.

"What do you mean he's done it before?"

"This may come as a surprise, but I'm sort of a thrillseeker." Hiccup said. He looked down into a storage bin. "And of course I forgot the wingsuit. I guess I can make a few more adjustments until next time." He murmured to himself.

Gobber scoffed, rising out of his seat to take the copilot position. "Pfft, thrillseeker, more like maniac. This boy here banzai jumped last year."

"What's a banzai jump?" Astrid asked warily.

Hiccup smiled at her. "Skydiving without a parachute! It's a sport where they throw the parachute outside of the plane, then dive after it to get it."

"That's insane!" She yelled. "Who would do that!?"

Hiccup blankly stared at her, and gestured vaguely to himself.

She groaned.

Karl called back to them. "Alright, we're three minutes from the dropzone, finish gearing up."

Hiccup helped Astrid with the rest of her gear. "Do you want to drop with me, or go by yourself." He opened the side door, and Karl compensated by tilting slightly to the right.

Astrid was suddenly scared, and she made the mistake of looking down. "I-I-I'll go with you." She looked up at her mother. "Were you in on this too?"

"No, but I'm sure it'll be fun for you two." She said.

"Two minutes until drop." Karl stated.

"Did I ever agree to this?" Astrid asked again, frightened by the height.

Hiccup finished clipping their vests together. "Whoa… is that a scared Astrid I hear?"

"N-no!" She said, crossing her arms in front of her. "I'm not afraid!"

"Oh, good then! Don't worry, you'll be safe with me." Hiccup said, and Astrid's worries dispersed, and she felt calmed by his words. "Okay, last part. I have to clip you to my front, do you want to face me or the world."

"You."

"One minute out, I'll count down." Karl said.

The two teens locked eyes, waiting for the countdown. They moved closer to the door, and Hiccup grabbed onto a railing. Astrid shut her eyes and wrapped her arms and legs around him as she felt her back against the outside of the plane. Her father's voice came over the headset again.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

Hiccup yelled. "Dropping!" He let go of the railing, falling backwards and away from the plane. Astrid's scream turned changed from fright to thrill as they fell together. Hiccup positioned them upside down, with their heads towards the ground.

"Alright, Astrid, how are you holding up?"

"I-I think I'm doing okay!" She smiled.

Hiccup sighed. "Astrid, the real reason we're like...this." He gestured around them. "Was to get us away from the twins." He said. "I know you got them to follow me, and the whole CSI pinboard thing is impressive."

Astrid was shocked. "How did you find out?" She asked slowly.

"Well, it wasn't that hard, considering that they've been following me for three days straight." His casual voice turned to a stern voice. "But I have one question. Why do you want to know who Night Fury is?"

Astrid was at a loss of words. They spent several tense seconds in silence. Her voice was small against the wind. "Ever since I was a little kid, I always thought the best pilot was the White King. He was the best of the best… and one day, he just stopped flying, no press conference, nothing at all. Then Night Fury came along, and I realized that he was really really good, like only the White King could've taught him those maneuvers. I wanted to find out who Night Fury was, so I could learn why the White King stopped racing."

"You were right all along, Astrid, that I was connected to Night Fury, and by getting to me, you would get to him."

Astrid furrowed her brows, processing his words. He continued. "But you looked too closely, you were so focused on finding who Night Fury was that you haven't realized he's in your arms right now. Your parents and I never wanted to keep secrets from you, but I convinced them to do so, and I'm sorry. Do whatever you want, I'm through with the lies, expose me to the media, tell all your friends…" Hiccup looked towards the ground. "This might hurt." He turned righted their position, adopting the average freefall form, and reached up and pulled the cord for the parachute release.

They were both jerked upwards, and Astrid's knee went into his crotch. "Not what I actually wanted to do… but that's for lying to me!" She exclaimed. Hiccup let out a groan.

His voice was hoarse. "I'm wearing a cup and that still hurt… Astrid. Couldn't you have just punched me in the shou-" He was cut off as her lips met his.

"...and that's for telling me the truth." She whispered, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "So, I don't expect there to be a secret underground flight club, but do you know who the White King is?"

"Don't break my family jewels. He was flying the plane we just jumped out of."

"My Dad?" She questioned. "You mean… you mean… my father was the White King?!"

Hiccup nodded. "He taught me how to fly, and I became his successor in the races, a pupil and a teacher… or an apprentice to a master."

"Why did you guys hide it from me all these years?" Astrid asked. "And who all knew?"

Hiccup looked down, before returning his gaze to her. "Me, Gobber, your Dad, your Mom, and Camicazi. It doesn't seem like it, but the air races can be dangerous, they attract gamblers and other shady people. Some of these shady people like to fix races, sometimes by threatening the racers or their families."

Astrid nodded, catching on to where this was going. "...and to protect us, you and my Dad wore masks, to hide your identities while racing."

Hiccup nodded again. "The Archipelago championship is at the end of this school year, and since this is the fiftieth year anniversary, they upped the winnings five times as normal."

"Wait a minute, they set the prize money as five hundred thousand dollars this year?"

"Yup." He popped the 'p.' "And a lot of those shady people I was talking about have their eyes set on that prize money."

"Have sabotages ever happened before?" She asked.

"A few times before, and it's what happened to your father. An old racer named Alvin sabotaged his plane, and caused him to bail out during the final race. No one could find him afterwards though, he took the prize money and ran."

He looked down at the ground again. "Alright, Astrid, I need you to pick your feet up, and brace for touchdown."

She did as she was told, and a few seconds later they landed safely at Thor's Beach. Hiccup unclipped the vests, and they separated, allowing him to pull in the parachute.

After they landed and Hiccup pulled the chute in, Astrid hugged him tightly. "I swear if you do that to me again… You will not have children. Understood?"

Hiccup let out a nervous laugh. "Understood, Milady."

On the other side of the island, particularly the airport, two figures were picking a lock for Night Fury's hangar, unaware that two more figures, were watching them from afar.

"Whoa, Sis, you see that?" Tuffnut asked, eyeing the two suspicious figures through binoculars.

Ruffnut adjusted herself on the fuel silo's roof, and peered through her camera, taking a few photos. "Uhhh yeah, I see that, what do you they're doing?"

"Should we call the police?" Tuff asked.

An loud alarm was set off, startling the two. "Looks like Night Fury has an alarm in the hangar, the cops should be two minutes out." Ruffnut murmured. "Text Astrid, tell her that we have something interesting." She snapped a few more photos when they ran out, hopping into a van. Ruffnut made sure to get the van's license plate in the shot while it was driving off.

A flurry of sirens sounded out, and flashes of red and blue came around the corner of the hanger."Cops are here, we gotta move." Tuffnut whispered, climbing down the silo ladder.

At the bottom of the ladder, Tuffnut sent a quick text

T: Yo, Astrid, two guys just broke into Night Fury's hangar, Ruff will send pictures.

A: K, can't text rn, I'm with Hiccup.

T: Ooooohhh! :P Wait till Ruff hears this, 'Strid out late at night, with Hiccup of all people. Ha!

R: Astrid!? You're out with Hiccup!?

S: Why are you out with that fishbone, you should be out with me!

A: Who invited 'Lout? Anyways, I'll explain later

Astrid slipped her phone back into her pocket while Hiccup was on the phone with the police, who were alerting him of the break in. He had a determined glint in his eyes, and when he got off the phone with the police, he dialed another number. "Cami, you there?" He put the phone on speaker.

"Yeah, what's up?" Cami asked. Astrid felt a twinge of jealousy. Whoa, what?! Jealousy? Where did that come from?!

"Are you busy?"

"Uh…" She eyed the half empty wine bottle on the kitchen bar. "No, whatcha need, Night?" Camicazi asked.

"We need a ride, my hangar was just broken into and we're on the far side of the island, at Thor's Beach." Hiccup explained, turning around to see Astrid with a slightly annoyed look.

"Who's we?" Cami asked with a teasing tone.

Hiccup mumbled. "Astrid and I…"

The heard her call out to the background. "Heather! You owe me twenty bucks!" Astrid glared at Hiccup, who shrugged and put his hands up in surrender. "So you two rascals alone on the beach? That's romantic." They blushed and shared a look.

Astrid spoke simultaneously as Hiccup. "No! It's not like that."

"Suuuu _uuureee._ " Cami laughed. "I'll be there in fifteen. Later dickus!" (AN: Ha! Callback)

Camicazi ended the call, leaving Hiccup and Astrid alone.

"So, uh." Hiccup stammered.

"Yeah?" Astrid asked.

"I-uh-I hope she doesn't tease us too much." Hiccup said, lowering himself to sit on the sand with a portion of unfolded parachute underneath him. Astrid sat down as well, subconsciously scooting closer to him.

The minutes passed in silence, neither of them breaking it, just occasionally glancing at each other and then back to the sunset that casted an orange glow across the beach. Their eyes locked, and they both inched closer… and closer… until car horn caused them to jerk away from each other.

Camicazi had arrived a few minutes ago and was watching the whole thing and decided to intervene at the most annoying moment. She stuck her head out of the window. "Hey Night! Who's the pretty lady?!"

They blushed, and Hiccup stood up then lent a hand to pull Astrid up. "This is Astrid, Cami, and you can call me by my name."

"Astrid huh? Looks like you scored, Hiccup." Cami snickered. The duo blushed again.

"Astrid, this is Camicazi, my friend who pickpockets me for fun." He said dryly.

"Ze Great Camicazi to you, Haddock."

Astrid waved in greeting. "Astrid Hofferson." Hiccup opened the car door for her, and took a seat after she scooted over.

"So, where we going? Make-out point?" Cami teased, certainly having too much fun.

"Just back to town, _please_." Hiccup groaned.

AN: I know, I know, I cut off at possibly the worst possible times, schools hectic and all, I've got an AP us history test Friday and an AP calculus test next Wednesday. So, I try to update and write as often as I can.


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